


Good Girl Gone Bad

by InBetweens



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Red Kryptonite, supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-23 21:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6130453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InBetweens/pseuds/InBetweens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara is affected by a weapon that generates energy from red Kryptonite. What affects will the weapon have on her personality and her relationships with those she cares for most?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get this posted before the actual episode airs. So instead of a 10,000+ word single chapter fic, I've separated it into parts. This is the first thing I'm posting in almost two years. So, please be gentle. Mistakes are mine.

** Part 1 **

 

“Goodnight, Alex.” Kara closed the comm line that she kept open while on patrol. 

Tonight had been a rough one. There had been a new alien making trouble for National City. The alien had some strange form of energy weapon. The weapon had the ability to destroy buildings with one or two shots, often times making the structures evaporate in a red smog of ash. When fired and impacting the earth it left behind craters the color of the deepest red.

It was particularly odd then when it seemed to have no effect against Kara at all. The propoulsed red explosive shots had merely been absorbed by Kara’s suit. The force of the initial impact merely pushing her back a few feet before she could once again stand her ground. Once Kara knew the weapon had little effect on her it had been easy to apprehend the soldier. Without his weapon he had no way of defeating her for he was as weak as a human.  
  
Locking the soldier away had been easy. Almost too easy, as he too seemed concerned with why his weapon, which Kara had witnessed cause massive destruction, didn’t even affect the young Kryptonian. The soldier was more ‘mad scientist’ than warrior and his mind wouldn’t settle until he uncovered why his weapon of mass destruction had failed him. He’d screamed at Kara that he would find her weakness and be her undoing as the DEO agents put him in a vehicle and sped off into the night.

That had been two hours ago. It was nearly midnight before Kara landed in an alley two blocks from her apartment. As her feet touched the ground and gravity pushed down on her she sighed. She was exhausted. Changing back into her pedestrian clothes in the blink of an eye, she walked to her building, lifted a hand in greeting to the night staff as she passed them. Too tired to even utter a sound to them as she stepped into the elevator.  
  
Kara barely had time to take off her shoes before she fell face first onto her mattress, her breathing labored. If it hadn’t been an incredibly draining day at the office and crime fighting she might be concerned with how tired she felt. At work Siobhan Smythe had refused to listen to any instruction she had when it came to how Cat liked things; Ed from finance had taken credit for Kara’s report that was going to save CatCo a million dollars a year; Lucy was back from D.C. and James was acting weird.  

Thinking of work made her think of Cat and how things had been so strange between the two of them since she’d broken up with Adam. Cat wanted a professional relationship with her, and only a professional relationship. Kara was doing her best to respect Cat’s wishes, but she wasn’t blind. She could feel Cat’s eyes on her when she thought no one would see her staring. Kara saw the times Cat stopped herself from saying something that might have been considered anything but professional.

Kara wondered how much longer Cat was going to make them both suffer.  
  
With her eyes struggling to stay open Kara had one last nightly ritual to complete.  
  
Kara groaned as she pulled up her cellphone and rested it by her head so she wouldn't have to hold it up as she checked for any messages from Cat. Seeing no texts she scanned her emails. She saw the reminder she had posted that Carter was going to be with his father for tomorrow, but Cat needed to leave early to pick him up on Thursday because John, Carter's father, had a flight to England for a meeting. Which was a lie. He was flying to England to transfer to Paris to meet his current girlfriend, who was spending two weeks abroad away from her husband and children. The husband that just so happened to be the CEO of John's biggest competitor. It looked like if he couldn't beat him in the board room he was going to beat him in the bedroom, with the other man's wife.  
  
Kara wondered briefly why there wasn't a term for the man sleeping with another man's wife besides bastard.  
  
“Set reminder to have hot coco for Carter.” Kara's phone beeped its response. The task complete.  
  
With little more than ten minutes spent going through the unopened emails and responding, she didn't even bother reaching for the charger when she finished. She rested her cheek on the bed and fell asleep instead.

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

  
  
Kara woke up seconds before her alarm went off.

  
Going through her normal morning routine Kara stood with a towel wrapped around her still damp chest in front of her closet. She stared and stared and idly pushed items back and forth. A crinkle creased her brow as she stared at the sweaters and skirts and blouses she had available for today. None jumped out at her.

Especially with...well, she wanted to impress those around her. Cat specifically. Kara blinked. Normally she wouldn’t allow herself to admit to such desires. Today was a new day though. And for once she was going to be honest with herself. Today, Kara wanted Cat Grant to drool over her. She wanted Cat Grant to have only eyes for her.

Siobhan was not going to receive any praise from Cat for her outfit today. No, Cat was going to look at Kara today and **_see_** her. She wouldn't be ignored or rebuffed for her fashion choices. Not today. Today everything was going to be different. Kara promised herself it would be.  
  
Kara pushed several of the hooks aside until she found something that would have to do. Nothing seemed... _right_. With a frown she grabbed the best dress she owned and went into the bathroom.  
  
By the end of the hour Kara was standing outside her apartment door ready to take on the world. On the way out of her building Kara barely acknowledged the staff members that smiled and wished her a good morning and then a good day.  She barely heard them at all.  
  
The sun was just peeking out over the horizon and the feel of the solar rays washing over her felt glorious.  
  
Kara had never felt this good before. There was an energy surging through her system that made her feel invincible. It slid just underneath her skin, making the very tissue that covered her feel alive. Unbeknownst to her, her eyes flashed red, but disappeared a moment later. Her pupils dilated and her heart raced beneath her chest. There were so many things she wanted to do. So many things that she felt she was capable of doing today that normally seemed impossible, even for her.  
  
With headphones in one ear she listened to the news as she walked briskly to work.  She sent Alex a text asking if they'd learned anything more about the alien encounter last night. She knew her sister wouldn't get it for at least another two hours, but she was curious if her renewed energy came from whatever plasma weapon the mercenary had used against her.  
  
Quickly though, the very thought of the alien and of Alex and their work in general seemed to fade away.  
  
Several express busses passed her by along the road, but she paid them little mind. There was no need to take public transportation when she could run faster than a speeding bullet. But, she couldn't be seen doing that without her suit, so she often 'walked'. It gave her time to think. Walking outside also kept her from feeling claustrophobic. Buses and trains reeked with human pheromones and in such cramped spaces it was impossible to ignore the assault on her senses.  
  
Today, it seemed the benefit of walking to work was one she often enjoyed, watching the shop owners open their stores. Many of the bigger branch stores that she passed along the avenue wouldn't be open for another hour, but some mom and pop stores and high end boutiques began opening their doors just about now. Many were still lifting the grates up on the front windows.  
  
Before Kara understood what she was doing, her body stopped walking. There...in the corner of her eye...was one of the name brand fashion shops that opened early for the professionals that needed to shop before the work day began. In the window gallery fitted to a posed manikin was THE outfit Kara needed. The one that was missing from her closet.  
  
Without even stopping to stare at the black dress, she went to the sole sales woman she heard counting inventory to herself at the register.  
  
When the woman looked up at her, Kara could tell instantly that this wasn't going to go well. It was obvious, by her current apparel, that she didn't often shop in stores like this. No, she was always bargain hunting and finding the perfect outfits that made her look as meek and as invisible as possible. It was a family trait she had picked up quickly from Kal-El even without having grown up with him.  
  
“Can I help you?” The question was double sided. The woman had no desire or inclination to help Kara with anything she might say she could need help with.  
  
Normally, Kara would ignore the tone. Ignore the fact that the woman's eyes looked her up and down and found her lacking...but today was different. Today...she cared. Because she wasn't going to be found lacking. By anyone. Not even this sales woman.  
  
“The Max Mara Firma Pinstripe Dopio Crepe Dress, do you have it in a size four?”  
  
Eyes widened, “The...uhm...yes...but that dress is-”  
  
“Great,” she knew it was going to cost upward of $995. “I'll take one. Also, the Max Mara Lollo Cotton Poplin Shirtdress. Same size. The Alexa Wagner shoes in the navy and black. The Altuzarra Blazer, Blouse and pants suit set. The St. John Collection silk charmeuse blouse in granita. I'd like to try that one on now.” The sales woman's mouth opened and closed minutely. “Do you need to write any of this down?” Kara's eyes hardened and her posture straightened. Any meekness the sales woman may have seen moments ago disappeared.  
  
Kara met the woman's gaze and dared her to say anything. The items she'd just listed would cost her nearly ten grand.  
  
“Nah, no...the...” The woman rattled off Kara's list and waited as if expecting Kara to change her mind.  
  
She didn't.

“I’d also like the St. John collection Diana straight leg marocain pants, Michael Kors Double face stretch wool flare pants, and the Saint Laurent Plonge Leather Moto Jacket.” Kara looked behind the woman and saw a sun glasses case. “Oh, and the prada sun glasses as well.”  
  
“And how will you be paying for these items today Miss?”  
  
This time Kara snarled as she pulled out the credit card attached to the savings account she had under Wayne Corp.  
  
“You do take platinum cards, yes? Or would you prefer gold?” Kara questioned as she pulled out her other credit card that was attached to her trust fund account.  
  
Kara took both back. “Never mind. Good luck explaining to your manager why you didn't sell ten thousand dollars’ worth of commissioned items.”  
  
Kara turned on her heel and strode towards the exit. She counted in her head as she did. The woman only made it to two and a half seconds before she was sputtering while she moved out from behind the register and followed after Kara.  
  
A flash of a satisfactory smile spread across her lips. It almost looked sinister. But it was gone the moment she turned around to find the sales woman falling all over herself to get into Kara's good graces.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

  
By the time Kara made it into the office she had changed her outfit three times, spent close to three years’ worth of college tuition and had a standing appointment to pick up the items she'd placed on hold at the boutique.

But she was happy.  
Confident.  
Assured.

People stopped and looked at her. Their eyes followed her as she made her way into the office. The heels she wore making her several inches taller. She never wore heels. The reason having been simple.

Cat hated how short she was so she was always wearing heels and had told Kara not to bother wearing them when she had the ‘audacity’ to do so the first week she'd been hired.  
  
Now though? Now, Kara didn't care what Cat wanted from her. Not really. If Cat didn't want her to wear the heels then she was going to have to look her in the eye and tell her so. Talk to her. Acknowledge her. That was what she wanted. And she deserved far more than just acknowledgement. She deserved...well she deserved... _more...._  
  
The outfit Kara currently wore was reminiscent of the style Lucy wore. A blouse, blazer or suit jacket and slacks. Except Kara's was form fitting and cost twice as much as Lucy's knock offs did. The granita color was a blend of red, pink, and orange. The blouse was made of the finest material Kara had ever worn. It was soft and smooth against her and left her already tingling skin rapid firing sensations to her brain.

The people still in the bullpen would soon be leaving, their night shifts ending in the next ten minutes. It would be another hour before the day crew started to make their way into the office.

Kara liked being in the office first when she didn’t have standing plans with Alex. It gave her time to catch up on work. Or, really, do other people’s work.

Kara sat down at her desk and stared at her computer, wondering for the first time why she bothered to do everyone else’s work for them. They always ended taking the credit and Cat had no idea how competent Kara actually was. How could she? When she thought the people who were supposed to be composing financial audits (like Ed) were the ones actually doing it. Or the research being done on media upticks weren’t being done by the analytics team (Sharen and her sect of computer lackeys) but by Kara.

Kara glared at the dark screen in front of her as if it were Ed or Sharen. Squeezing her hands into tight fists. She saw the blinking red light of her phone flash in the corner of her eyes and she turned them away from the dark screen. If she had continued to look into the depths of the unlit screen she would have watched as her eyes lit up like fireworks in the night sky, the color flashing a deep red.

Picking up the phone, Kara entered her password for the answering machine. Her teeth ground down together as she heard Ed’s voice on the other line.

“Kara, I’ll need the rest of those files by tomorrow morning. No later than ten am. Make sure to have them on my desk by then.” Ed hung up, no thanks, no praise on the good work she’d done by finding the extra expenditures and the alternates that would save CatCo an estimated ten million dollars in the next six years.

“Message deleted. Next message received at…” The robotic female voice sounded against Kara’s ear before a beep sounded and the message began to play.

“Hey Kara, it’s Sharen. I’m just looking for those statistics I asked you for last week. Cat wants them by tomorrow. Thanks hon! You’re the best!”

“Message deleted. Next message….” How was the automated voice supposed to know when to stop when behind? How could it possibly understand that Kara was seconds away from crushing the phone in her hand to dust.

“Kara, it’s John. Just calling to make sure everything’s set with my flights. I really appreciate you scheduling this trip for me. Carter really isn’t just full of hot air when it comes to his praise for you.”

The mention of Carter’s name momentarily calmed Kara’s racing heart. Her body slowly relaxing as her mind thought of the boy she had become very fond of. His quirks reminiscent to her own at his age. Though, she knew his quirks were centralized to genetic disposition and hers were caused by extenuating circumstances.

Carter was the only reason Kara had even helped John schedule the flight to England. A part of her wanted John to get on the plane and never come back. That part of her was selfish because it wanted Carter and Cat all to herself. John was constantly hurting Carter, cancelling plans, yelling at him. John didn’t know how to handle a child like Carter. He wasn’t patient and understanding. He was impatient and stubborn.

John wanted a son that had the same interests as him as a kid. He wanted a son that would talk sports with him. The one-time Carter tried to learn about football so he could have a talking ground with his father, John had gotten frustrated with him for his extensive knowledge. His _more_ extensive knowledge than John. Carter leaving John in his dust.

Sometimes Kara wondered if her relationship with Carter would have been similar to her relationship with Kal-El if she hadn’t gotten stuck in the Phantom Zone. She would have had to take on the role of mother, cousin, and best friend.

It was Cat who usually picked up the pieces of Carter’s broken heart. Kara always standing on the sidelines, waiting, biding her time. She was always there for the Grants. They were two of her favorite humans and Carter brought out a maternal side in Kara that she didn’t know existed until she’d been faced with the young boy the first time.

Since then Kara had cultivated her own relationship with Carter, outside of work. She’d given him her phone number and they texted and he sometimes called her when he was bored. Kara was there for him. Just like Kara was there for his mom.

Kara just wished that Cat noticed how her not being able to be there for Adam didn’t mean Kara couldn’t and wouldn’t be there for Cat and Carter.

Thinking of how Cat refused to even acknowledge her most days now without vitriol dripping from her mouth, Kara groaned. A throb beginning behind her eyes. She brought her thumb up to her temple and rubbed at the pressure points until the tension went away.

Kara listened to the rest of the messages on her machine in a bit of a daze. Thinking of Cat like this wouldn’t do. She had work to do.

Kara hung up the phone when she heard she had no more messages. Looking across the space towards Cat’s private elevator, and across Siobhan’s desk, Kara decided to take matters into her own hands. It was time to shed her meek invisibility cloak. Cat wouldn’t see her again until other people started to see her too.

With a smirk she turned on her computer, pulled out the data Ed had asked her to comb through, the large stack making a loud ‘THUNK’ as it hit the top of her desk. Once her computer was running she clicked on a few applications and separated her screen in half, concentrating on collecting the data for Sharen and her team while also working on an excel graph and spreadsheet for Ed.

The smirk upon her lips a telling sign of her scheming.  

 

**End Part One**

 


	2. PART TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the encouraging and lovely comments and kudos. It means SOOO much. :-) I haven't yet watched tonight's episode. But I hope you'll enjoy this fic and the differences. :-)

**Part 2**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Kara put Cat’s coffee on her desk and walked out of the woman’s office just as she was walking in. Siobhan was trailing behind her as Cat listed what she needed done. Kara didn’t turn around. Not at first. But she felt it, the way Cat actually turned her head onto her shoulder and stared at her even as she kept walking, nearly stumbling over the coffee table.

Kara could hear the skip in the older woman’s heartbeat as she tried to minimize the near ass over tea kettle impersonation she’d almost performed.

Kara knew…it was the outfit. The jacket hugged her shoulders well and fell over her hips, the blouse beneath a shade that brought out the color of her hair and made her eyes pop. It was also worth what she paid in rent for two months. But as she turned and met Cat’s eyes as the woman tore her own amber eyes off of Kara’s hips, it was worth the money.

Siobhan had stuttered and complimented the outfit asking if what she wore was a knock off. When Kara had only smiled and walked back to her desk, Siobhan had stared. So had Winn. The poor man couldn’t contain the pheromones he was releasing but he had been much kinder about her outfit. Complimenting her on the choice; stating she looked very professional—his eyes trying valiantly not to stare at her chest. The cut of the blouse dipped enough to reveal just enough skin to help divert anyone’s eyes a little lower than normal.

“Keira…stay.”

Kara stopped and faced Cat, her hands behind her back as she waited.

Cat picked up the coffee and took a sip, trying to compose herself. Siobhan looked between Cat and Kara, wrinkles about her eyes as she tried to understand what was happening in front of her.

“Keira…” Cat repeated, surprised to look up and see Kara still standing closer to the door than the center of the office. It made it appear like there was an ocean between them. It perturbed Cat.

“Yes, Ms. Grant.” Kara didn’t take her customary step forward. She stood in place. If Cat wanted her, she was going to have to come and get her. Kara was done playing games.

Cat walked around her desk, shortening the distance between them, but not going as far as completely diminishing it. As she walked she started issuing orders. “Get me, Edward. He owes me several reports. Push Sharen and the social media children’s meeting up to 10am. Also…” Cat brought the tip of her glasses to her lips as she leaned against her desk, her eyes roaming up Kara’s body, from the tips of her toes to the rims of the younger blonde’s glasses.

Kara felt the look like it were a touch. Her skin pebbling beneath her designer suit into goosebumps. She involuntarily sucked her bottom lip in, her teeth biting down on it. Even from this distance she could hear Cat’s heart flutter and she could practically taste the heat of the woman’s skin from here. It was intoxicating and it almost broke her decision to keep distance between her and Cat. If Cat wanted to push her away, she would stay away. She’d only come closer if instructed or if Cat came closer.

Siobhan cleared her throat, prompting Cat to continue when the silence grew to be uncomfortable.

Blinking, the media mogul cleared her own throat before continuing, “Change out of those ridiculous knock offs. You know how I feel about pirating…music, clothes, handbags.” Cat waved her hand around in the air as she listed the pirated items she would not allow in the sanctity of her building.

Kara noticed Siobhan lift her hand to cover her lips to hide a smile. Kara opened her mouth to tell them both that these weren’t knock offs, but before she could Cat’s voice cut through the room again.

“Well…chop chop.” Cat dismissed Kara with a distracted wave, her back towards her ‘second’ assistant as she made her way around her desk and began flipping through the daily magazines littering the top of her desk. In. The. Wrong. Order. Cat pinched the bridge of her nose. Aware instantly that it wasn’t Kara that had set up her office this morning, Siobhan.

Kara turned on her heels and left, aware that Siobhan and Cat (through the reflection of the glass cabinet behind her desk) watched as she stalked out of the room. If there was a more natural and elongated sway to her hips, she didn’t recognize it.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

“Ms. Grant is waiting for you. She wants the reports she asked for.” Kara stated as she stood in front of Ed’s office. It was about the size of James’ and on the walls were hung copies of his accolades. 

“Wonderful. I’ll take them from here.” Ed walked around his desk and held out his hand for the folder he just expected Kara to give him.

Kara glared at the hand but handed him a folder with a completed report. “You may want to take a look at this one before you give it to Ms. Grant.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.” His arrogance grated on Kara’s last nerve. He was just going to take credit for her work. Again! Kara almost had a mind to keep hold of the folder and make him work for it. However, when Ed grasped the folder and tugged it out of her grasp, she let it go.

But something in her just… _clicked_.

Ed’s eyes were already focused straight ahead, he never noticed how Kara’s foot swished to the left and rested in his path.

Before anyone could say or do much else than stare, Ed tripped over Kara’s heeled foot, the folder with the report flying out of his grasp as he tried to catch his balance.

Kara watched as he fell, his body hitting the floor hard. The papers from the folder she’d handed him staid in the manila container, but rested under Peggy’s desk twenty feet away.

Kara stepped up to Ed’s head and slowly squatted so that she was lower to the ground and could whisper into the fallen accountant’s ear. “Best watch where you step Ed, sometimes those you like to step on can trip you up.”

Kara stood up straight, pulled on the bottom of her suit jacket to straighten it before walking away. Her eyes flashing a brilliant red as the veins in her chest and arms beneath her black jacket laminated with a similar color for a moment before fading away.

Beneath the surface of Kara’s chest her heart raced, the glowing red cells latching onto regular blood cells and overpowering them, causing her heart to gradually beat a bit faster. The virus in her system was slowly overpowering her natural cells. Her temperature gradually increasing so that it went unnoticed. Her heart beat a fraction of a second faster per minute making her chest feel warm and her system flood with a synthetic form of adrenaline. The change went unnoticed by everyone, including the woman suffering the changes.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Ed stormed into Cat’s office, still trying to pull his own grey wash worn jacket on properly. The folder with the report Kara handed him still in his hands. His eyes constantly filtered back out towards Kara’s desk, where Kara sat working diligently, never paying the man any mind at all.

He snarled at the girl.

“Edward…is there something fascinating about Keira?”

“She…she trih—” Ed was about to explain to Cat what happened when he noticed the young girl look up at him and pointedly stare at the folder clutched in his hand. The wind in his sails that would have driven him to tattle on Kara disappeared, leaving him stranded at sea.

“She…” Cat prompted, but Ed turned towards Cat trying to ignore Kara all together. “I know she has taken to wearing less garish clothing as of late, but that is no excuse to look at her as if she were a piece of meat.”

Kara’s lips twitched from behind her desk as she focused on her computer screen.

Cat stood slowly from her desk and tilted her head to the side, eyebrow raised in question at the stuttering man in front of her.

Ed swallowed thickly as he quickly composed himself. “My apologies Ms. Grant.”

“Are those the reports I asked for?” Cat asked as she looked at the slightly crumpled looking folder.

“Yes, yes they are.” Ed realized his folly when Cat sighed and actually held out her hand for the folder. He quickly raced forward and put it inside her grasp.

Without saying anything to him, Cat opened the folder as she sat down and began scanning the charts. Ed stood, as he knew he was meant to, waiting for Cat to dismiss him.

Cat peered over the top of her glasses at the rotund accountant. “You created this report?”

“Of course I did!” Ed defended, wondering what Kara had said. “If anyone has said different they’re lying!”

Cat took off her glasses and leaned back in her chair, “Anyone…who would be saying you didn’t create this report. A report I specifically asked you to write on your findings?”

Ed swallowed nervously, “No…no one.”

Cat hmmed, picked up her glasses, and went back to the report on her desk. “This report shows that you were off by a margin of nearly 45% in your last report.”

“That’s ridiculous! I swear to you Cat, we’ll save nearly six million dollars in the next four years if CatCo uses…”

Cat waved her hand, “This report says we’ll make nearly eleven million in the next six years if we cut back spending in eight additional areas from the last report.”

Ed’s eyes widened at the new figures. _“You may want to read over these ones.”_ Kara had said to him.

After she’d tripped him he’d never had a chance to read the report. He’d been too busy pacing his office ranting about what a bitch Kara had become, how he was going to ruin her, and show her just who she was dealing with. Except most of his words were just bluster. He had just been angry and his pride wounded.

He peeked his eyes out of the office to look at Kara again. The young assistant looked up only a few moments after he’d begun staring at her, met his eyes and smiled satisfactorily.

Cat glared at Ed from behind her desk, “What is so fascinating about my assistant, Ed?! Does she know how you had been so off with your last report? Or perhaps she knows why you don’t even know the numbers in your report… _your_ findings…” Cat narrowed her eyes on the man as she watched him begin to sweat.

Ed cracked, the sight of Kara’s smile did him in. “She’s setting me up!”

Cat blinked, surprised. “Who is?” Cat leaned to the left so she could look out the office. All she saw was Kara sitting at her desk doing her job.

“Kiera, I mean Kara!” He whipped his head back towards Cat. Though his finger jutted out in Kara’s direction, “ ** _She_** wrote that report.” He stressed. “She wrote the last _six_ reports! If there are mistakes in the last report or findings, they’re hers!”

Cat’s eyes widened as Ed panted with his anger, his round face a bright red.

“You’re saying… _Keira_ …wrote the last two, no, I’m sorry, the last _six_ reports….” Cat’s voice was low, her body slowly rising from her chair as she stared at Ed, daring him to contradict himself now.

“I…it…she…” Ed swallowed convulsively.

“The last six reports, which I personally asked _you_ , the accredited executive financial director to create. Personally.” Cat’s hand twitched at her side. “My assistant…with a dual degree in journalism and history…who makes a third of your salary, created these research reports?”

Ed knew when to admit defeat, and he had already tied the noose around his neck and teetered towards the edge of the ledge. There was nothing more to really say other than the truth. With a defeated sigh his shoulders sagged.

“Yes. I looked at each of them, save for the one in front of you. The others were accurate. All of them. I wouldn’t have presented them if they weren’t. I just got too busy to do them myself.”

Cat huffed, “You expect me to believe that?”

“I’m already fired. Right? Why lie? Kara created the reports. I edited some things when needed but she generated the accurate numbers for the last six months.”

“True…today will be your last day at CatCo, but I’m not finished with you just yet.” Cat nodded her head slowly, agreeing with the man. His career here at CatCo was over and if she had any say in it his career anywhere in the country was ruined as well.

Ed cringed at the quick acceptance of his assumption. “The girl’s lost her mind as of late.” He looked over his shoulder at Kara once again before focusing back on Cat. “But she’s a brilliant mathematician.”

Cat chewed on the inside of her bottom lip as she mulled over what Ed was saying. He was maintaining that Kara had been the one to write the reports.

That _Kara_ was the one that should have been given two bonuses that amounted to more money than she’d made the last three years she’d worked here.

 _Kara_ should have been the one to receive the bonus package that included ten thousand shares in the company equal to the amount of money she’d saved them from losing that had wrongfully been put in Ed’s name.

It was **_Kara_** who was constantly saving CatCo money, and making the investors and Board of Trustee’s love Cat for putting more money in their pockets.

It was _always_ Kara.

Always.

“You may pack your things and leave. I want you out of this office before the end of the hour.”

Ed nodded, his teeth grinding against each other as he left the room. He didn’t even spare Kara a look as he passed her desk.

Siobhan couldn’t help but stare after Ed as he made his way towards the elevator. Winn was focused on Kara, watching for her reaction. He was surprised that she didn’t seem to have one. She was still looking at her computer typing out something or other.

The floor was eerily quiet, as most of the employees in earshot to Cat’s office had mingled silently to hear the gossip.

“Keira…” Cat called but Kara was already making her way around her desk and into Cat’s office.

Kara only stepped up to the end of the couch, leaving half of the office as space between her and Cat. When it was apparent she wasn’t coming any closer, Cat continued with her train of thought. Trying hard not to ruin hundreds of thousands of dollars on dental surgery by grinding her molars together in her frustration.  

Cat lifted up the report, “You created this report?”

Kara stopped about halfway into the office. “Yes."

Cat dropped the report back on her desk and opened it once again, staring down at the pages before her. “It’s accurate?” Cat asked, as if unsure she should be trusting herself to talk at all.

“If CatCo follows the outline described, yes.” Kara answered stiffly once again.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t fire you.”

Kara kept her composure, “That report shows eleven million reasons.”

Cat’s eyes narrowed for a moment, expecting Kara to offer more in her defense. “Nothing else?”

“I thought eleven million dollars would be enough. If it’s not, then I can say the other four million I saved the company before Christmas from the debunk investor. Or how I found the employee that was laundering money from the corporate accounts after Thanksgiving.” Cat’s eyes widened as Kara listed several jobs Ed took credit for accomplishing. “Or, I could just say that I did what was asked of me that would make your professional life easier. Which is what you hired me for and _used to_ value.” Kara stressed the past tense nature of Cat’s value of her.

“What I…” Cat’s nostrils flared. Ed’s words about how Kara had lost her mind recently echoed in her ears. “I just fired my executive financial director! How does that make my professional life easier?”

Kara eyes narrowed at Cat, “He wasn’t doing his job to begin with! Now, HR can find someone who actually wants the job and does their work on their own rather than pushing it off to someone else!” Kara’s chest rose rapidly, her hands fisted at her sides as she pulled herself together and calmed down.  

“Someone…” Cat wondered if this was how Kara was going to worm her way out from under her. Force her hand so that she would have to promote Kara to a position she obviously could fill even if she didn’t have the degree to match her knowledge. “Someone, who seems more capable at the position than he ever was if this report says anything about it.” Cat flicked some of the papers, frustrated beyond measure with the young woman in front of her.

Yet, Cat could say nothing. Kara was doing exactly what she’d asked of her. Kara was keeping things professional between them. She was maintaining emotional and physical distance between them. It just, well it unnerved Cat. 

Cat wished for things to return to how they were before. Before Kara wrote that letter. Before Adam came to National City. Before Kara had been kidnapped and Cat was forced to admit that she had been terrified to lose Kara. Before Kara choose herself and her own happiness and career over Adam’s happiness, forcing Cat’s hand. Forcing Adam away again just when Cat was enjoying his company.

She wanted things to be how they were before all of that. Cat Grant wanted Kara Danvers to look at her and see someone she could respect, and care for. She wasn’t blind. She knew Kara cared more about her as a person than as an employer. Cat was the one that changed the rules. Not Kara. Kara had stood by and let Cat demolish her time and again just to make herself feel better.

Maybe she had gone too far. There was something…different…in Kara’s eyes.

Defeat had been clear yesterday when Kara left the office, there had also been a clear aura of hurt. Now though, the woman that stood in front of her lacked all of that. The woman standing in front of her pretending to be Kara was numb. The only clear emotion present one of impatience and anger.

“Is that what you want, Keira? To take Ed’s job?”

“No.”

“Then what is it that you want?” Cat enunciated each word very slowly.

There was a sudden flash in Kara’s eyes. Cat would have sworn that there was a red hue to the girl’s eyes, but that would mean she’d need to admit to seeing such fanciful things. Besides, as fast as it had appeared, it was gone. In its place a new tension filled Kara’s shoulders, the younger woman’s jaw clenched as if it was taking a great deal of effort to remain quiet.

“To be excused so I can get back to my job.” Kara’s voice was as stiff as her posture.

Cat internally sighed, knowing there was little else she could do.

Kara shut down on her and Cat wasn’t in the right frame of mind or position right now to push any further than she already had. Disappointment, after all, stung like a bitch. Especially when it was unexpected.

“Go.” The word was all Kara needed before she spun on her heels and left Cat’s office.

Leaving behind a curious and worried Queen of all Media.

 

**End Part Two**


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that's been reading. I'm glad that you're enjoying my take on the Red Kryptonite storyline. Here is the next chapter.

**Part Three**

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Cat Grant sat behind her desk and rested her head in both of her hands. Sharen and her team of lackeys were quickly fleeing from her office, two of them in tears. Tears! The nerve of those women! Cat Grant didn’t have a lot of rules. Okay, she had a LOT of rules. But number one was always the same: No tears in the office.

A part of Cat wanted to fire the two women, but she was just too perplexed. Too…tired.

God, was it still only 10:30 in the morning? 

How could it have only been two hours since she’d walked into her building? It felt as if it had been a full day, if not a full work week. 

Cat stood and made her way towards the liquor decanters. She poured a glass of scotch and stared at the amber liquid. She dropped two ice cubes into the glass and brought it up to her forehead. Oh, how she longed to bring the rim of the glass to her lips and swallow the entire glass in one go. It would be easy. But then Kara would look at here with an expression of disappointment. It would be gone after only a moment, but it would still be there. It was as if by seeing Cat drink this early in the day that the golden statue that Kara imagined her as slowly began to turn to lead upon the base.

With each new disappointment Kara saw beyond her rose colored glasses and the hero Kara thought of her as would be no more. Cat would just be a woman with flaws and faults, and Kara would know, and Kara knowing that much about her, scared Cat. Scared her because if Kara knew all of her, saw beyond the hero worship and the hopes she placed on Cat’s shoulders…then when that flash of disappointment moved across Kara’s face it wouldn’t just crush Kara. No, it would crush Cat too, crush and break her in ways she wasn’t sure she completely understood yet.

Outside of her office Cat heard Kara whispering something harshly, but she hadn’t the energy to pay attention. 

Kara: the bane of her existence; the woman seeking to single handedly destroy Cat’s well developed plans. Kara: the girl capable of running three separate departments while also balancing Cat’s schedule and anticipate all of her needs before she has them.

“Ms. Grant...?” Siobhan's voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard merely because it wasn’t Kara’s voice. Or it was any voice at all.

Pinching the bridge of her nose as she held the cold glass of scotch against her left temple Cat waited, eyes closed. 

“Today would be nice.” Cat spit out as she peeked an eye open. 

Siobhan slowly stepped forward, her steps unsure as she looked behind her for some form of confirmation that what she was doing was the right thing. Behind the girl, Cat realized, was Kara. The girl’s arms were crossed impatiently in front of her chest as she stared intently at Siobhan. She jerked her chin up, urging the brunette onward. 

Siobhan seemed to finally decide she was already in the deep end, so she looked back at Cat and opened her closed palm. Upon her hand were two liquid gel Tylenol. 

Cat growled low in her throat as she snatched the medicine from her assistant. She refused to look back out at Kara, knowing she was the only reason the tablets were being offered in the place of the scotch. 

Well, Cat petulantly put the pills in her mouth and swallowed them with the use of the scotch. The liquid burning her throat as it slid down and rested in her belly, offering the first vestiges of warmth she'd felt in days. 

Cat didn't see Kara's reaction, and she pretended like she didn't care.

Kara was ruining her; professionally and personally.

Kara was forcing her hand and Cat was not going to be pushed around in her own office. No matter how many of these nitwits she had to fire. Kara was not taking any of the positions she could obviously fill without question. Cat would not lose Kara. Cat wasn't done with that girl yet. She needed her, even if she was trying so hard to appear as if she didn't. It was all an illusion. Cat needed Kara more than it seemed Kara really needed her. 

The girl who had begged to keep her job because she needed to be here at CatCo, with Cat, seemed to have disappeared. Not entirely Cat supposed. It wasn't as if Kara was trying to get herself fired. No, she had tried to do that two weeks ago when she came into her office in tears and asked for the day off. 

Today, Kara seemed to be making it impossible for Cat to keep pretending that she wasn't better at her job than Cat gave her credit for. Today Kara was looking for the acknowledgement she rightly deserved. Kara was showcasing just how useless half of Cat's staff was. This preparation was only the beginning. It was just the start of something much greater; Cat could feel it. She was being led towards a cliffside. Kara was going to ask her to jump or push her over the edge by the end of this, Cat just knew it.

As if preparing Cat for an even greater fall than she imagined when Kara finally broke and left her. No, left CatCo not Cat, at least…she hoped. Though in essence was there a difference? 

Kara was leaving if Cat didn't give her what she wanted. Cat knew the signs. She had pushed too hard. Kara was done playing her game. Now it was Kara's turn to push back against Cat, and the young woman wasn't pulling her punches. Was Cat supposed to feel pride over Kara’s sudden back bone?

The blow to the stomach was how Kara wouldn't even come into the office without being called. The barrage of left-rights to her sides was how Kara kept the physical distance between them, making it impossible for Cat to attempt to subtly bridge the gap between them. Ed was just the first upper cut. Sharen and her nitwits was the jab to the eye socket. Cat was behest to know what the knockout blow was going to be.

If Cat wanted to make it across the bridge SHE had designed and forced Kara to walk across, putting them in this mess to begin with. Then Cat would have to do it completely, confidently. Not with half assed baby steps. 

Daring to look up Cat saw the incompetent brunette standing in the midst of her office. “Don't you have work to do?” 

“Oh, right.” Siobhan strode towards Cat's desk instead of her own, confusing the blonde. 

“I took the liberty of creating this contact sheet.” Siobhan placed a single piece of paper on Cat's desk. 

Cat looked at the alphabetical names on the list. She sighed heavily. “Get out.”

Siobhan opened her mouth as if to say something but Cat's eyebrow rose, daring the woman to say another word. It seemed the woman wasn't completely clueless as she turned and left the office. 

Cat looked at the sheet of paper and picked it up in disgust. She crumpled it up and threw it into the trash beside her desk. At her desk Siobhan's shoulders sagged.

Cat opened the top drawer of her desk and peered down at the laminated contact binder residing in the top of it. It contained names, numbers, emails, faxes, and addresses of over five hundred individuals that Cat would need to get in contact with at some point or another. The great thing about this binder was that it was broken up into categories, and the names were ranked by that of importance. The first page was dedicated to the numbers of Carter's principal, teacher, school nurse, pediatrician, and nannies she had vetted and were acceptable substitutes for his primary nanny. It also had John's contact information, her mother's --all the way at the bottom, and recently had been updated to include Adam's contact information as well. 

Staring at the binder for a moment Cat sighed for the umpteenth time. Her headache becoming more of a migraine.

Kara won round three. But Cat was still standing. For how long…she wasn’t exactly sure.

Closing the drawer with more force than she intended Cat shot her eyes towards Kara's desk.

“Kie...” Cat stopped in mid call. The girl was nowhere to be found. 

 -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Kara stepped out of the elevator and made her way towards Supergirl Headquarters. “What's up, Alex?” Kara asked into her cell phone. 

“Good morning to you too sunshine.” 

Kara sighed, “Alex, please. Is it an emergency? Is Supergirl needed?” 

“No, hey, are you okay? You sound...weird.” 

“I'm just...it's Cat...” Kara sighed. “I can't be gone long. If it's not an emergency what's up?” 

“I was calling to make sure you were still feeling okay. After last night and that weapon...I wanted to make sure it didn't have any side effects.” 

“The only side effect it has had is making me feel...amazing. Energized.” 

“Energized how?” Alex, ever the scientist asked.  

“Like I've had way too much sugar. Look, I'm fine Alex. But I have to go, or I won't be.”

 

“Alright, alright...take it...” The line went dead. “...easy.” Alex stared at her phone in confusion for a moment before she put it away. She'd make sure to follow up with Kara when she wasn't so busy. 

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

 

Kara came rushing off the elevator to see Siobhan standing in front of Winn's desk. She was leaning provocatively against it as she picked up one of his action figures and faked an interest in it. 

“You must know where Kara disappears to all the time. I've only been here a week and even I notice she's gone more than she's here. I mean--no wonder Cat needed another assistant.” 

Kara glared as she stalked towards her two coworkers. Winn saw her coming before Siobhan, the brunette facing away from her. However, the 'thank god' expression on Winn's face as he looked behind Siobhan, clued the brunette in. She turned to look over her shoulder and put on a fake smile as Kara came to stand next to the two of them. Cat was still in her office pacing back and forth as she spoke with someone on the phone. Lucy was sitting on one of the couches taking notes. Kara let her ears pick up parts of the conversation so she was aware of what was going on. 

“I don't care what his contract says. There's got to be a clause in there somewhere. The man broke the law. He was arrested for domestic violence. I do not care who his father is or what oil dynasty they have ties to. HE will not be returning to this office until the courts find him innocent. Well then, he won't be coming back at all then, now will he?” 

Kara tuned back out of the conversation happening in Cat's office, and instead focused on the two people in front of her. “Here's the HR paperwork for the new executive financial director.” Kara put the folder down on Winn's desk. “Can you complete the background checks by this afternoon so I can start scheduling in appointments for interviews?” 

“Sure! I'll...get right on that.” Winn grabbed back his action figure from Siobhan and turned towards his desk, getting to work. 

“Cat didn't ask you to get those files.” Siobhan pointed out as she slid off of Winn's desk and straightened her skirt. 

“There are a lot of things _Ms. Grant_ doesn't ask for.” She stressed the formal title of the woman, aggravated beyond measure that this woman thought she could walk around calling Cat by her first name when she'd only been here a week. It was Ms. Grant to everyone...including Kara.

“That doesn't mean she doesn't need them.” Kara finished as she watched Siobhan go to her desk. Only when the brunette was nearly seated did she sit in her own chair. 

Siobhan rolled her eyes and started checking her emails. There weren't many in her inbox. But she heard Kara typing away a storm on her keyboard, so she knew someone was getting emails, even if she hadn't received anything in the last thirty minutes. 

Siobhan made herself busy with familiarizing herself with the names and phone numbers of the directors throughout the company. Cat hadn't accepted the phone list she'd created and that only made her wonder why. Cat was difficult to figure out, mostly because she just expected her to know what it was that she wanted. Without proper direction Siobhan wouldn't be able to give Cat what she needed or wanted. The fact that Kara could tell what Cat needed before the actual woman did upset Siobhan. Kara was actually the one doing most of the work around here, Siobhan was just getting the credit. She wasn't opposed to that. She'd been stepped on before at her last job. Here she'd vowed to do better. If that meant stepping on someone else, well that was just too bad.

The sound of the keyboard clicking stopped suddenly, causing Siobhan to look up. Kara was gone, already halfway towards the elevator before Siobhan had even looked up fully. 

Not ten minutes later Cat called out, “Keira....” When Kara didn't show up she called out for her instead. 

The brunette jumped up and raced into Cat's office, passing Lucy by as she did. “Yes, Ms. Grant?”

“Where is Keira?” Cat asked, frustrated that she kept missing the blonde. 

“I...I don't know Ms. Grant, she was just at her desk a few minutes ago.” 

Cat sighed, “Fine. Go to HR and get me resumes for a new executive financial director and bring them...wherever it is they're supposed to go to get background checks done. I want at least two interviews scheduled before tomorrow morning.” 

Siobhan's cheeks reddened as she realized Kara had already done that. She opened her mouth to say that SHE had gone to HR and gotten the resumes for Winn when Kara appeared in the office, a hot latte in her hand. 

“I've already done that. Winn has them and I've already placed a call to a suitable candidate at your first available appointment.” Kara put the latte down on Cat's desk and turned to leave the room. 

Cat didn't say anything. She just watched Kara walk out of the office before she snatched up the latte and took a sip. She glared at the drink, making Siobhan think Kara had gotten the wrong kind.

“Is there something wrong with the latte Ms. Grant? I can get you one you like...?” If the woman would just tell her how she took her coffee. 

“Don't be silly. I already have a latte. Why on earth would I want another one?” Cat was just upset because the latte was perfect and Kara hadn't even looked at her when she'd delivered it. 

Round four had just begun and Cat was once again behind.

 

**End Part Three**


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara's nervous energy gets her in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are amazing. Thank you for all of the lovely support (in ALL forms). Means a LOT. So thank you. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

**Part 4**  
  


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- 

  
The longer Kara sat at her desk the more anxious she became. Her knees bounced constantly, her hands itching to move, and her chest ached like she'd suffered from a panic attack.   
  
Looking at the clock Kara groaned. It was only six thirty. Cat wouldn't be leaving the office for another two hours--if Kara was lucky. Cat often stayed late when Carter wasn't home. Kara knew it had more to do with being alone in her penthouse than with her workload. Cat would probably be finished in another half hour. The rest of the time she'd start jotting down ideas for new issues of her magazine. Or think of Op-Ed pieces for staff writers to work on.   
  
Winn was still at his desk. He was going to wait until seven or so to see if they could still do their Chinese and movie night. Siobhan was at her desk doing her nails. The woman wasn’t even trying to appear like she was doing anything anymore. She’d been a useless additive as far as Kara was concerned, but she still had the sense to remain quiet about it. It was all just part of Cat’s plan. She hired Siobhan to punish Kara, Kara would be damned if she let Cat know it was working.

Instead, Kara merely rolled her eyes before standing from her desk. She leaned against Winn's desk, the pose nearly a mirror image to how Siobhan had done so earlier that afternoon. It pushed her upper chest out and allowed Winn to make out the entire shape of her right side from head to toe.    
  
“So, what if we skipped the movies and went out to do something?” Kara asked, over exaggerating the batting of her eyelashes.  
  
“Like what?!” Winn shifted in his seat, seeming excited at the idea of an adventure taking place between just the two of them. He really wanted to go flying with Kara, but she’d never offered and he was kind of hoping that maybe she’d changed her mind and was willing to take him....   
  
“Let's go dancing!”   
  
Winn's smile fell away immediately. “Dancing?” He asked disgustedly.   
  
“Yeah. Come on. I can't sit still for another second!”   
  
Winn didn't look nearly convinced, “I don't know Kara...”  
  
“Please...?” Kara was going for puppy dog pout and whine but the baritone of her voice changed the tone of the pleading to one a lover might hear as they were propositioned.  
  
Winn swallowed thickly as his pupils dilated.   
  
Kara could sense his fortitude crumbling. So she placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled brightly at him. If it took on a particular sly grin instead of beaming grin, she didn't notice. “Please?! We'll have soooo much fun!”  
  
“Sha...sure. Sure. We can go dancing.” He blew air out past his lips, trying to make light of his surrender. “It's not like I can't, you know, dance. At all, but no, sure! We can go, it'll be fun!”   
  
“Awesome!” Kara jumped off his desk and went back to her own. Unaware of the three sets of eyes that followed her.   
  
The snap of a pencil in Cat's office pulled Kara's attention towards the older woman’s office, but when Cat just kept 'writing' (doodling) Kara focused on her computer. She had thirty minutes before they were both going to leave. Kara didn't care if Cat Grant got on her knees and begged her to stay. Kara swallowed, no, she didn’t care. She, Kara Danvers, was leaving at seven.   
  
Kara valiantly tried to blink away the image of Cat on her knees in front of her, the way Cat’s skirt could flutter against the floor and how Cat’s heels would have to be slipped off for her to do so comfortably. She was NOT thinking about how her hand could slide through Cat’s short coiffed blonde locks. She didn’t think about how her fingers would itch to clench so she could direct to media mogul exactly where she wanted (needed) her. The way Cat’s lips qould quirk as her hands slid along the side of Kara’s outer thighs and…   
  
… “Fuck!”

Kara jumped out of her seat and ran to the bathroom. If she was running faster than she should be, she didn’t have any conscious thought of it. She just needed to get away from Cat’s office, from the sight of Cat Grant and the scent of her sweeping out into the foyer by Kara’s desk.

As she ran Kara forced her mind to stop it’s set focus on the daydream she’d been having at her seat. The visceral reaction her body was having to the imagined scene scared Kara; her hands shaking over it. A part of her conscious told her this wasn’t normal, not for her; it told her something was wrong. That she should call Alex and get those tests done. But it was silenced as if by a larger more imposing entity that remained in the shadows within her mind, scaring the worried part of her conscious into silence.

Once in the bathroom Kara moved to the sinks. She twisted the knob for cold water almost clean off in an effort to get the cold water flowing. She’d prefer a cold shower to bring down her suddenly rising body temperature, but the cold sink water would have to do.  
  
With the faucet running Kara listened to the sound of it, focusing on that sound alone, as she waited for her body to calm down and for the water temperature to lower. Once it had lowered as much as it was going to Kara scooped several handfuls of the chilled water and splashed her face with it.   
  
When that wasn't doing anything for her blush she stared at herself in the mirror and told herself to calm down. To pull herself together before going back to scooping more water and splashing it against her face. Kara kept scooped more water and more water before scrubbing it against her cheeks five or six more times at super human speed.

The images playing before her mind’s eye of Cat Grant in varying sexual positions with Kara above, behind, beneath, or beside the woman wouldn't stop. 

They.  
Wouldn’t.  
Stop.    
  
Kara's right hand turned into a tight fist. She hit it against the counter, once, twice, thrice. The groan of the tile not nearly enough to sate her need to hit something. The nervous energy from before now had a focus and the way her hands kept shaking and her heart raced against her chest truly worried Kara. Kara was about to listen to that small part of her subconscious and call Alex when the door to the bathroom squeaked open. Kara quickly hid her cellphone and leaned over the sink to keep her flushed face away from the intruder.    
  
“Kara...?” Lucy's voice called out as she stepped into the bathroom. Surprised to see Kara at the sinks. Or maybe it was more surprise to see Kara in the sort of tizzy she was in _at_ the sink. “Winn and Jimmy sent me.” Lucy explained as she came closer, “Winn was worried but he was afraid to come in himself.”   
  
Kara couldn't help the soft chuckle that escaped her. Leave it to Winn to be afraid of the ladies’ room. She supposed she couldn't be too mad at Winn. At least he hadn't sent Siobhan after her. He wasn’t completely clueless in that respect.    
  
“You feeling okay?” Lucy asked, noticing how flushed Kara was.   
  
“I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed.” Kara answered honestly.   
  
Lucy seemed surprised by her candor. “I can get that. Cat's a hard woman to work for.”   
  
Kara's shoulders straightened at the opinion. Normally she would be the first to defend Cat. She recalled doing just that the day she met Adam, but look where that had gotten her.

“She's punishing me.” Kara was surprised that she said anything at all.

Lucy leaned against the sink sill a few feet away from her, giving her space but making it clear she was there, and turned her attention to Kara as if silently telling her to continue.

“I hurt her. She won't say it. But I hurt her when I broke up with Adam. Her son.” Kara explained when she saw the slight upward tick of Lucy's eyebrow at the name. The layer hadn't been here during that debacle. “I pushed him away from her again and she’s angry at me. Dissapointed in me because she thinks I’m to blame. And maybe I am, but I’m also the only reason she’d even met him and learned enough about him to truly miss him like she does now!” Kara rambled, getting off track as her chest warmed with dignified anger. She took several deep breaths to calm down. “So…she's retaliating. She's taking away the sanctity I find in my job, in this place in her, we were never just professional with each other. She was my mentor. She helped me. She cared. I cared. Now…now she won’t even talk to me. She hired Siobhan. She’s trying to teach me a lesson, I just don’t know how to tell her that I’ve learned it, tenfold.”

Kara felt tears well in her eyes. Cat had pushed her away at the worst time. She’d needed Cat more than anything and Cat had shut her off, pushed her away, because she didn’t want Adam to get hurt. He would, because Maxwell Lord knew who she was and Adam would be a target if he stayed. But she couldn’t tell Cat that. She couldn’t explain. So she had to deal with Cat’s insults and barbed words, the CEO’s undeserved ire, and put up with losing a confidant she depended on.

Kara was exasperated now, especially the more she thought about everything.   
  
“But I'm done letting her school me. I graduated with the highest honors from Metropolis University. Three years early! I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history. I have a master’s degree in international relations and an associates in Physics!” Kara's grip on the sink grew tighter and tighter. Her eyes glared at the reflected image of herself staring back at her.  _‘You are pathetic,’_ it told her, eyes glowing red. _‘You let this human push you around, hurt you. You are of the house of EL, you are above her. Above them all.’_  
  
The air in the bathroom was growing warmer and warmer the angrier Kara became. Lucy noticed the temperature immediately and stared with critical eyes at the angry blonde. A small part of Lucy began to think that maybe it would have been better for Winn or Jimmy to come in here.   
  
“Kara...” Nothing. No response. The blonde just continued to stare at herself in the mirror.  
  
“If she thinks she can just keep treating me like gum stuck on those cheap designer heels. She's got another thing coming!”   
  
“Kara.”   
  
“She thinks I'm useless. I'll show her just how useless everyone else is. Let her see what I do for her. Then let her say I'm incompetent. Let her take **_this_** away from me.”   
  
“Kara!” Lucy raised her voice. Staring down at the blonde’s hands in horrified awe.   
  
“WHAT?!” Kara turned towards Lucy, her eyes glowing a sharp shade of red, the skin around her neck glowing with the same fierce hue. Lucy hardly noticed the color of Kara's eyes. Her own too focused on the blonde’s hands which which…   
  
Kara noticed Lucy staring at her hands. Looking down she realized why.

There, in each palm, were chunks of countertop taken clean off the sink sill. Staring at her hands as if they'd betrayed her Kara dropped the granite and stepped away from them, horrified. Her face clearly showing fear and uncertainty as she stared at her hands.   
  
It had been years since she'd lost control of her strength like that. She was always so in control. She could get angry and blow up at people but she'd never--in those instances--lost control of her powers. That hadn't happened since she'd accidentally broke Alex's arm. The sound of her sister’s arm breaking on top of the pain Alex had been in made Kara physically ill. It was also the day she swore she would never hurt anyone innocent with her powers. And she hadn't.   
  
Lucy watched as Kara stared at her hands and the chunks of sink in front of her, laying limply on the floor.  The fear and shock contradicted the emotions Lucy suddenly expected Kara to exhibit. Why Lucy thought Kara would suddenly turn to her and start begging her not to say anything alluded her. It almost seemed ironic that Jimmy would leave Metropolis and one Super hero to join another in National City. Though, she never would have imagined Kara Danvers was Supergirl.   
  
Maybe that disbelief was what kept her from saying anything as Kara freaked out at the sink. “Kara...?” Lucy said, her voice as soft as it had been when she’d stepped into the bathroom.  
  
“I didn't mean to do that!” Kara turned to Lucy then, as if realizing that not only had she lost control of her powers, but that she'd done it in front of a Lane. The same Lane that hated aliens. “Lucy, I...”   
  
“Were you exposed to anything that could have caused this?” Lucy pointed towards the rubble.   
  
“Lucy...It, I…uhm…”   
  
“Think, Kara!” Lucy touched Kara’s shoulder gently. Trying to offer comfort. “Did you come into contact with anything...strange?”

Kara stared at the lawyer with a raised brow. Did she think that something had caused this to happen? **_Something_** (else) gave her the ability to smash counter tops?   
  
Kara, for the first time in her life, didn't want to tell a lie. She easily had a way out of this situation. She could tell Lucy that something had affected her, that had to be the reason why she was feeling so terrible. Something strange and alien must have happened to her. But then Lucy would call her father or a contact at the army to figure this out and she would be their lab rat and they would figure out who she was. It didn't help that Lucy hadn't been very nice to Supergirl when they'd met and held such a low opinion of her thanks to General Lane.   
  
Kara knew, deep down she knew, that if she wanted to, she could easily lie her way out of this situation. She could pretend that the alien everyone in National City had seen on the news had actually struck her with its weapon. Honestly, Kara was just soo tired of lying about who she was to people that mattered. Lucy was a good person. She was James’ girlfriend, and possible fiancé. Lucy was going to be a part of her life for as long as James was. So, why shouldn't she tell her the truth?   
  
“I wasn't paying attention. I'll just fix it.” Kara picked up the pieces of hard tile and held one of them to the cracked edges. Shaving it down with her fingernail she then put the piece against the proper spot and activated her heat vision. She melted and then cooled the hot tile, effectively causing adhesion between the broken piece of the counter and the counter itself.    
  
Kara only looked up from what she was doing after she'd finished. She picked up her glasses and put them on before she turned to Lucy, her shoulders straight, feet apart, hands resting comfortably at her sides.

Lucy stared open mouthed at Kara. Her eyes going back and forth between the blonde and the counter top she'd just broken and then fixed.   
  
“Your...your...”  
  
“Keira! Kiera!” The door to the bathroom opened. “The sweater loving hobbit is worried. He won't stop babbling.”  Cat's voice preceded the sight of the older woman. “Oh...” Cat saw Lucy. “If I'd known he'd already sent in the Lane girl I wouldn't have bothered.” Cat kept from touching any of the many surfaces around the communal women's bathroom. She had her own private ensuite attached to her office so she wouldn't have to suffer anyone else's germs in bathrooms like this.   
  
So of course, it wasn't for just anyone that she would come into a public bathroom. But she couldn't very well admit that out loud. Even if she was certain Kara would appreciate the effort for what it was: her caring.   
  
Cat, whose focus had been on Kara, unadmitedly worried for the young woman since watching her race towards the ladies’ room, finally turned to Lucy. The lawyer was staring at Kara with a wide eyed shocked and perhaps slightly horrified expression. Her face was pale and she looked like she was sweating.   
  
“Lane, are you ill as well?” Cat covered her mouth and took a decidedly large step away from both women. Whatever they had it must be catching for it to go from Kara to Lucy so quickly.   
  
“No Ms. Grant. Lucy just gets a little weak at the sight of blood.” Kara lied, her eyes only looking at Cat for a moment before focusing again on Lucy. Her comment could easily be taken as a threat. And maybe it was. But Kara was currently trying for believable.   
  
“Blood?!” Cat's eyes widened as she looked around the area for this mysterious and forsaken blood. She didn't see any on or around Kara so she turned to Lucy.   
  
“Nose bleed. I had a nose bleed. All cleaned up now.” Kara added indicating the wet surface of the sink and garbage bin. Knowing Cat was squeamish meant Cat wouldn't go looking in the bin. Instead the journalist took another step away from it. Just like Kara knew she would.   
  
“Well, I'll leave you to inform Witt he can stop piddling all over my office.”   
  
Cat waited for Kara to tell her she would inform Winn that she was fine. So both Cat and Winn could stop worrying over the woman. If Kara said “yes, Ms. Grant” all was well. So, the media mogul waited.   
  
“Yes, Ms. Grant. Thank you.”   
  
Cat dismissed the thanks with a bored wave of her hand as she turned and left the bathroom, assured Kara was okay. Now to make that frantic tech boy stop worrying as well so she could get some work done.  
  
Lucy took the time Cat’s presence offered to compose herself. Once the door was closed she went to it and locked it. She rounded on Kara with a raised finger. “You're Supergirl!” She whisper yelled, making Kara roll her eyes.  
  
When it appeared Lucy wasn't going to continue without some form of answer Kara nodded her head.   
  
“You're Supergirl and and James knows...and Winn. And your sister! Your sister works at the DEO! Danvers!” It sounded as if Lucy wanted to smack herself at missing that clue. “I just thought it was a coincidence. You two look nothing like each other!  But of course you wouldn't. You don't share the same mother. Hell you don't even share the same home planet!” Lucy was on a roll. She couldn't stop herself as she ranted, pacing two steps one way and three the other. Each time she twisted she pointed at Kara as if by doing so she would ensure the blonde stayed where she was.   
  
“Earth is my home now, Lucy.”   
  
“Well, yes of course it is. But...oh my god. Oh my gahhd....!” Lucy suddenly stopped pacing. “You're Supergirl.” This time Kara realized the lawyer had accepted the revelation as fact. It was no longer surprise or shock. She was stating a fact with clear and concise knowledge.   
  
“I am.” Kara's voice was deeper and her posture straighter as she admitted it. Ready to defend herself if she had to.  
  
Lucy sighed heavily, “Now what happens?”  
  
“I guess we have to decide that together. Why don't you and James come over to my place for dinner tonight. Winn and I were gonna go dancing but--”  
  
“You and Winn, dancing?!” Lucy's eyes were once again wide. But her smile was also wide and Cheshire Cat like.   
  
Kara glared at Lucy darkly. The brunette quickly threw her hands up in surrender. She now knew what those eyes could do. She wasn't going to give Kara too much cause to glare at her. Lucy knew it was an accident that she found out. But Kara was trusting her with something. Something big. And she liked Kara. Kara had made her feel welcome here at the office and as a friend. Lucy might not have liked Supergirl but she liked Kara. And it was Kara's secret she was now in charge of. Not Supergirl's.   
  
“Right. Of course not like  _that_!” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively as she speaks sarcastically. Teasingly. Finding it as easy as she has in the past to tease the blonde. 

“No! We were going to go as friends.”

“ _Friends...”_  Her tone suggested more. 

“JUST friends!” 

“ _Right...”_  She still wasn't convinced. 

“Right!”

“Because, you know, you'd rather dance like  _that…”_ Lucy demonstrated an obvious sexualized grind, stepping forward twice before standing tall as if she hadn’t just been giving Kara a dance show to demonstrate how Kara would like to dance with Wi… “…with Cat.”

“Right!” Kara blinked. “Wait...! I mean.

  
Lucy laughed so hard she started to tear up almost immediately. She could hardly stay upright as she cackled at Kara's expression. Maybe it was just the release of the tension that she'd felt at realizing the alien she and her father had not left on friendly terms with was one of James' best friends, or maybe it was just because it was Kara. Kara Danvers staring at her like she wanted to kill her and yet...she hadn't denied the crack yet.   
  
Kara sighed, “Yes. I would much rather dance with Cat than Winn.” Kara almost seemed pained to be admitting it. “I'd dance anyway she'd have me. Not just like a stripper…” Kara gestured towards Lucy and how she’d just danced, “…but a waltz in the ballroom.”

The devilish smile that spread across Kara's face at the idea of 'dancing' with Cat Grant between the sheets was...attractive in ways Lucy promised to never think about again. But it was the way the blonde’s eyes softened as she spoke of dancing with Cat in the ballroom that stopped her laughter. Kara’s crush wasn’t just sexual. Lucy hadn't actually thought the blonde would admit to her girl crush. She'd seemed too...too... _innocent_ and ‘ **1950s societal view of home-family values** ' to willingly admit to any form of lesbian crush.   
  
Apparently there was a lot more to Kara Danvers then met the eye. In more ways than one.   


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- 

The evening certainly didn't go as Kara had wanted. There was no dancing with thumping music loud enough to quiet all other noises, including internal thought. There were no bodies pressed up against each other till you couldn't tell where one began and the other ended. The consolation to all of that was Chinese food, booze, ice cream, friends, and the mats from her old DDR game pulled out to play. If she took great pleasure in kicking all her friends asses, she wasn't showing it. At least she thought she wasn't. There was no hoot or hollering like there would be normally. There was a competitive edge to Kara tonight.

It was like she needed to win more than she needed to breathe. It was as if she still hasn't proved herself yet. 

 

Cat was nowhere to be found but Kara wasn't finished yet.   
James needed to see she was more than the schoolgirl cousin of Clarke Kent.   
Winn needed to know she loved him, but as a dear friend and nothing more.   
Lucy, well Lucy needed to prove herself because Kara had been thinking of how easy it could be for the younger Lane sister to disappear. The thoughts were unwelcome. But they were there as an option if she felt Lucy wanted to become a threat. 

  
They were on round five, and Lucy was trying to knock Kara off her first place pedestal, the two girls staring at each other with serious glances as they both had a competitive edge that wouldn't let them lose, when the doorbell rang. The aura around the two women caused James and Winn to stay several paces behind the two girls, beers in hand.   
  
Lucy and Kara were on rematch number three, each having won once when Kara had to invite her sister in.   
  
When Alex saw Lucy at Kara's apartment she went as if to leave before the lawyer noticed her. It was a futile attempt. Lucy stepped up from behind Kara and said: “Come on in Agent Danvers, Supergirl here was just going to try and kick my ass at The BumbleeBee song.” She emphasized the word try. Kara shot a glare over her shoulder at Lucy.   
  
Alex sputtered as she was dragged into the apartment, shooting an obvious “we need to talk” glare at Kara that the blonde ignored.   
  
The ensuing competition between Kara and Lucy continued until Kara won. Lucy accused her of using her powers and Alex laughed. Alex informed them that Kara wasn't using her powers. To prove it, Alex put on the most difficult song, sped it up by three and gestured for Kara to show them just how fast she could actually move her feet to match the directions on the game.   
  
Lucy's mouth fell open. She could hardly see the arrows on the screen or Kara's feet as the girl hit every arrow. Lucy nodded, accepting gracious defeat after that.   
  
When they'd all had another beer, or a shot in Alex and Lucy's cases, serious conversations began. Winn and James chimed in when they found it appropriate. But mostly it was Lucy, Alex, and Kara talking. The talks were serious, to the point, and inquisitive.  
  
Alex needed to make sure Lucy wasn't going to go running to her father with the information she now had about 'Supergirl'.   
  
Lucy pointed out that she had ended up siding with Supergirl in their last encounter, effectively putting a rift between her father and her when she did so. Lucy had changed employers because she'd needed to make a choice and in making that choice she'd already inadvertently picked Supergirl. Also, Lucy made it clear, even if she hadn't already picked sides, knowing that Kara was Supergirl only endeared her more towards keeping the secret because she might not have been fond of Supergirl, at first, but she'd always been fond of Kara.   
  
“She's my sister.” Alex finally stated as she stared at Lucy. It was as if that one sentence held all the answers to life's grandest and complex questions because suddenly Lucy and Alex were on the same page. This wasn't about Supergirl anymore. This was about Alex's little sister whom she loved dearly.   
  
“I know...” The emotion within those two words was tangible. Lucy had two sisters. One of which she couldn't stand, but the other Lucy would do anything for, even if it meant offering up the two greatest sacrifices: dying for her or killing for her.   
  
“Okay then.” Alex was still worried but they had gone over everything she needed to.   
  
“Now that you girls have finished talking. It's late. I'm going to head home.” Winn stated from behind the couch Kara and Lucy sat on, Alex across from them on her own couch.   
  
“We'll walk you out.” James stated as he got the nod of acceptance from Lucy.   
  
The group all hugged Kara. When it was time for Lucy to hug Kara she squeezed as hard as she could and whispered into Kara's ear. “I'll keep your secrets. Both of them.” The lawyer winked at Kara before she looped her arm into James' and the three friends left the apartment, leaving the Danvers sisters alone.   
  
Kara used her super speed to clean up the apartment so she was done before Alex got to the couch after putting her glass in the sink.   
  
“Hank isn't going to like this.” Alex stated once she was settled in her seat.   
  
Kara rolled her eyes and stood up from the couch. “Well it's a good thing none of this is up to him.”  
  
“Kara, you have to realize the danger in this situation! She's General Lane's daughter. That man just wants to lock you up and throw away the key. And that's the nicer version of his intentions!”  
  
“I'd kill him before he put me in a cell.” Kara stated passionately, the edge in her voice deep.   
  
“Kara!” Alex sounded horrified by Kara's declaration.   
  
“Don't you dare. You know you'd kill him before you let him dissect me like I were a frog.”   
  
Alex said nothing, which meant Kara was right and Alex didn't want to admit to it.   
  
“Still, this is bad. And we need to tell Hank.”  
  
“No. This isn't bad. This is my life. Did I want Lucy to know? Maybe not so soon. But she would need to learn eventually. I won't be like Clark. I won't let my secret identity hurt my friends.”  
  
“But that's exactly what's going to happen! Them knowing puts a target on their back. It means there is one more possible leak for your identity as Kara...and one more danger to those you care about if they slip up.”  
  
“James knew before he even came here. Winn is my best friend and I needed him because at the time I didn't want to put  **you**  in danger. So maybe if  _you_  had told me  ** _YOUR_**  secret he wouldn't know anything because I could go to you instead!” Kara wasn't yelling, but her voice was getting louder and her tone accusatory the longer she spoke.   
  
Alex flinched at the obvious anger that Kara still held over her keeping her role in the DEO secret. “I didn't want to put you in danger! There are reasons people have secret identities! And it's not to protect themselves but to protect those close to them! I was doing it to protect you and mom.”  
  
“I won't let anything happen to Eliza or my friends!”   
  
“Be real Kara, you know as well as I do that you can't control everything! One day your best isn't going to be good enough and the people you love are going to get hurt.”  
  
Kara turned her back on Alex. She could feel her anger resonating in her chest. The skin beneath her clothes a soft shade of red. Her eyes glowed red as she wrapped her arms protectively around herself. She wasn't protecting herself from anything but rather she was protecting her apartment from her. She wanted to throw the coach against the wall and maybe break her fist through the wall to her bedroom. 

Kara was hard pressed to focus; to calm down. The idea that her best wouldn't be good enough was her worst nightmare. To have it thrown in her face like this hurt.   
  
Alex slowly walked up behind Kara to touch her shoulder and offer her sister comfort. Before her hand had even settled for longer than a second on Kara's shoulder the younger woman withdrew from her touch. Alex stared at Kara, hurt and worried. There was heat radiating off of Kara's skin that she hadn't noticed before. It wasn't as if the exhausting game they'd played for most of the night would even come close to tiring the Kryptonian. Kara hadn't even broken a sweat and if she had Alex would have been far more worried than she was.   
  
When Kara had calmed down she slowly turned to face Alex, her eyes her normal shade but her completion was a bit rosy.   
  
“The difference with all of this Alex, is that my friends are choosing to trust me. Like I chose to trust them with my secret. MINE. Not yours. Or Hanks. This is MY secret. My life. And I get to choose how I live it, and who gets to be a part of it. That includes my secret identity.” 

Kara had listened to Alex and Hank worry about Cat knowing her secret. She had agonized over it herself if she were honest. But it was Alex and Hank’s fear that fed her and convinced her to keep Cat from knowing the truth. If she had told Cat, been honest, Kara wasn’t sure what would have happened. But a part of her truly believed that Cat would have fired her, but that she wouldn’t have run the story. Cat believed in Supergirl too much to ruin all the good Kara could do by making the public focus on her true identity. It was just heartening to know that for Cat to suspect her, to call her out on being Supergirl, that Cat had to  _see_  her. The real her, both sides. 

Kara had lost the opportunity to be honest with Cat. There was a large part of her that felt she had been pressured to keep her secret from Cat, which stole something from her. A possible future she could be living if she’d just trusted that Cat wouldn’t hurt her. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.   
  
“Do you trust Lucy?” Alex asked, raising her head in question.   
  
“Yes.” Kara stated confidently.   
  
Alex didn't like it but she had no real right to dictate who Kara told. It was Kara's secret. It was always the safety of Kara and Eliza that Alex was most worried about. For now, Kara's trust in Lucy was the end of the matter.   
  
“Fine. I won't bring it up again.” Alex crossed her arms over her chest frowning in thought as she looked at the floor.   
  
“Good.” Kara walked back towards the couch. She felt energized again but had nothing to do to blow off the energy. Then again, she had a few ideas that could blow off the energy.   
  
Number one on that list was showing up at Cat's penthouse dressed as Supergirl. Cat would let her in and she would probably have just poured her first glass of wine after wrapping everything up for the night. She liked to read and have a glass of wine to de-stress when Carter wasn't home. Cat, ever the polite hostess, would offer her a glass of wine and to join her in the sitting room, or if it was a particularly nice night, out on the balcony. They would talk. Enjoying the others company. Things would flow into a comfortable silence. They would sit in the quiet for a few good long moments before Cat would break it.   
  
Cat would ask why she was there with her instead of out saving someone or with someone of importance to Supergirl, whoever that happened to be, man or woman.  Kara would settle in closer to Cat and look deeply into the woman's eyes before delivering the corniest pick up line. The sentiment always there no matter the delivery. It always expressed that Cat was important to her, that she had no desire to be anywhere but with the older woman.   
  
Cat would either blush realizing how sincere she was or chuckle at her ineptitude when it came to seduction. Then it depended.   
  
Cat would either find herself kissed by Supergirl, lightly until it was clear whether or not Cat was interested in the kiss continuing; Or Cat would school Kara in seduction. Cat would take Kara's glass of wine and her own, place them on the table, focus on Supergirl before finding a way to move closer together, brush her hand over Kara's fingers as she traces a gentle pattern up her arm, over her shoulder and up her jaw line till she was cupping Supergirl's cheek. All so she could lean in and kiss Supergirl. Whether she kissed Supergirl with urgency or a gentle probing always depended on Kara's mood.   
  
Tonight it was...  
  
“Kara...Kara!” Alex snapped her fingers in front of Kara's face to pull the younger woman from her daydream.   
  
“Wha..what?” Kara blinked a few times as she turned to focus on Alex, trying not to flush at what she had been daydreaming about.

“Are you feeling okay?” Alex stared at Kara as if she was seeing more than just her flustered younger sister. Like there was a puzzle in the very pores of Kara’s nose. 

“I’m feeling fine. I told you. I just have a lot of energy I need to burn.” 

“Uh huh…” Alex slid forward on the couch so she was sitting next to Kara and could easily reach out and put the back of her hand against the Kryptonian’s forehead. 

“You feel a little warm.” Alex noted, knowing her sister’s temperature had to be high if she could feel the heat from just a touch. 

“I’m just burning off the energy I absorbed. I promise, Alex. I’m fine.” Kara stood from her seat, unable to sit still. 

Alex wasn’t convinced, “Come into the office tomorrow after work and let me run a few tests.” 

Kara sighed, but threw her hands up in surrender. “Fine. But I’m only staying for an hour. I have plans tomorrow night.” Alex would take what she could get. Glad that Kara was humoring her worry. 

At the idea of plans for tomorrow Alex transitioned from concerned DEO agent to curious sibling in an instant. “Oh? With anyone I know, or should know and run a background check on?” 

Kara laughed, “No. Winn and I are going to go dancing. I think James and Lucy are going to join us, so long as there aren’t any disturbances of course.” And she wouldn’t have to worry about ditching them after it was her idea to go dancing now that Lucy knew. It would be less of a hassle and they could invite Lucy out more often as there wouldn’t need to be excuses made up on the fly. 

“Dancing? You haven’t gone dancing since senior year of college.” 

“I know. I think it’s time to go again. It’ll be fun. Help me unwind.” 

“Unwind huh?” Alex waited for Kara to sit down, the blonde snuggling up against her after a moment. The tension in Kara’s shoulders easing away as she nestled into Alex’s shoulder. “Things that bad with Cat at work?” 

“Oh, you have no idea…” Kara easily rambled off about all that had been happening at the office. The trouble she was having with Cat and Siobhan. How she’d finally just come to a head today and couldn’t take it anymore.

Alex listened, a proud smile upon her lips, as Kara spoke about how she finally put several of her coworkers in their place. Alex knew Kara was trying to remain as meek as possible in her professional life but it was nice to hear that the people who had been taking advantage of her sister finally got what was coming to them. It seemed Kara had finally just reached the end of her rope for the games being played at her office. Now Kara was the game maker, not the player, and Alex couldn’t be happier for her sister. Well, she’d probably be happier if Kara finally quit CatCo, or asked Cat Grant out on a date (after quitting of course). 

Alex didn’t say anything about Kara’s obvious crush. Kara would come to her with it when she was ready. Instead she listened as Kara spoke of nothing but Cat Grant and how she would make the media mogul see her, even if she had to play dirty. 

By the time Alex slipped out of the apartment Kara was fast asleep in her bed. 

Although her consciousness was asleep the virus spreading through her body was not. Within Kara's immune system red flakes continued their travels through Kara’s blood stream. Invading one host after the other. 

The more blood cells affected the stronger the virus’ control became. Lines of glowing red spread from Kara’s chest, over her shoulders and down her arms to the tips of her fingers. In the opposite direction the red veins were cut off by the neck, but they were slowly inching their way closer and closer to where they wanted to be; her brain stem. The virus’ host was as unaware of the virus spreading beneath her skin as all of those she cared for were unaware of what awaited them come morning.

 

**End Part Four**


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara's personality takes on a more drastic turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE thank you to everyone for their kind words and encouragement. I'm very happy to see you enjoying this story. After tonight's episode I had to post this chapter. I hope you enjoy! :-D

** Part 5 **

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-**

Cat Grant didn’t know what to expect when the sun rose over National City. Every dawn truly was a new day. A new beginning to the daily chapter in the book of life and today began like any other day that Carter wasn't home: uneventful. 

Two hours after rising from a fitful sleep, Cat was ready to leave her home. As she walked to her town car Cat had a determined pep in her step. She had a plan. And when Cat Grant had a plan things worked out well. 

Cat's plan consisted of speaking to Kara today. She would offer the younger woman a better salary if she would remain where she was, but with a new title and 'new' responsibilities. Kara had proved she was capable of handling extra work--even with her disappearances--maybe it was time to pay her for the extra work. That and Cat wasn't ready to see her go. She enjoyed having Kara readily available to her. It kept her sane when her day was anything but. This would help. It was the first step in her 'amends'. 

Cat had a general idea of how the day was going to go. She knew what she would say to convince Kara to take the offered promotion and she knew Kara would take it. After all, that's what yesterday was about. 

Kara wanted Cat to see her; to recognize just how much she was needed professionally. Cat had taken away the privileges of having a personal relationship outside professional boundaries, boundaries that had always been subjective when it came to Kara. 

Kara was making her pay for that new boundary. It was petty and childish but it was exactly what Cat had done to Kara. And ever the efficient study, Kara had taken what Cat had taught her and used it for her own gains, and used it better than Cat had in years. 

The type of ability it took to outwit Cat Grant at her own game, and all Kara showed her she really did do for her, was worth the chip in her ego by admitting defeat. Kara deserved more, she deserved to be recognized, and Cat was done trying to pretend like she hadn't always recognized Kara's talent. (Even if she hadn't known just how far it went). Yesterday had been eye opening. The woman Cat thought Kara was just happened to be very far off from the mark. Usually Cat was a good judge of character, or so she prided herself on it. It seemed that Kara was just an enigma that Cat was meant to ponder over and solve. 

It was as Cat was getting in her car that her phone came to life with differentiating text after texts, email after email pings, and alert after alert, startling her. 

Cat told the driver to drive as she looked over the havoc she was sure to be going into once she made it to the office. 

By the texts and emails she’d received in the last two hours alone, the world didn’t know what to expect from the day. There were always a hundred different stories to report and picking ones that actually mattered could be difficult. It seemed today Cat’s job would be easy…er. 

Supergirl had been spotted in two different places in the last three hours. She stopped a train from colliding with a car that got stuck on the tracks and she saved the crew members of a boat that capsized off the coast. 

Sighing as she went through her texts Cat skipped several before continuing on to her emails. She sent out several in quick succession. The most seemed standard. She told the printing department to be ready to reprint a new cover page for the mid-morning roll out. She also called for a staff meeting to brainstorm their new cover, even if she had a few ideas already. 

Cat almost bypassed another email when the contact name pulled her back to it. 

It was from a contact of hers at Wayne Corp. Even though she was no longer in Metropolis it was good policy to have sources everywhere. She’d worked with this source for years, and their credibility was never in question.  So when she read that Kara Danvers’ resume had appeared in the super short list for a managerial position at Wayne Corp for a special project that even the source didn’t have clearance for…flags were raised. 

No, not just raised. They were shot up into outer space at the speed of light. If this source said Kara had applied for a super-secret position it meant Kara was planning to leave. It meant Cat had waited too long; Kara was already lost to her. Cat has played her game a session or two too long. Kara was looking for another job. Kara was leaving. Cat sent an email to her source and tried to wiggle out more information about the job. 

The answers she got were very displeasing.

So it should come as no surprise that Cat Grant was thus not a happy woman as she stepped into her private elevator. 

If Kara Danvers thought that she could just up and leave her for another multibillion dollar company that offered her special projects that even the executive program director didn’t know the details of…

Well…Kara had another thing coming. Kara was forbidden to leave Cat..Co-CatCo. Not Cat. 

And to think, Cat had spent over two hours last night creating a new position, finding money in the overflowing budget (thanks to Kara) and to top it off she'd been worried about Kara and her health too! 

Now, to know that Kara wasn't physically sick but she was just sick and tired of Cat made the journalist livid.  

Cat growled at herself and the impossible in distinction of Kara leaving CatCo and/or leaving Cat. If Kara left CatCo, she was leaving Cat. It was that simple and yet there were far more layers to this dilemma than met the eye and all of which Cat refused to contemplate. 

Pulling off her sunglasses Cat stalked out of her elevator and made a beeline for her office. 

Kara was nowhere to be found. In her place was Siobhan holding Cat's coffee order. She grabbed the drink from the woman and continued into her office without missing a beat. 

“Find Kiera. Now!” Cat ordered as she walked to her desk and sat down. She had a dozen phone calls to make and she needed to speak with James about the editorial content they had available from Supergirl’s latest heroics. She didn’t have time to be worrying about her assistant quitting for grander pastures. 

Cat grit her teeth. The salary alone that Wayne Corp was offering Kara was more than Cat had been prepared to offer Kara with her new position. In reality it was probably what Cat should be paying Kara, but didn’t. 

Siobhan turned on her heel as soon as she was given her directions and went to find Kara. The blonde had brushed in and out of the main floor three times this morning. Any other day Siobhan might have asked where the ditzy blonde was disappearing to, but something ingrained inside her brain made her stop. It was almost like a primal reaction and it probably kept her safe from a danger she could only minutely detect. 

-.-..-..-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-

Winn was in full on terrified mode. He was conferring with James in his office about Kara’s sudden change in persona. The woman had been…well… ** _mean_**. 

Kara had stalked into the office that morning with a confidence no one had seen on her before, not even Winn when the blonde was decked out in her Supersuit and cape. Kara barked orders, physically grabbed papers out of people’s hands, yelled at three people over the phone, threatened a security guard, and well, there was the  _outfit_. Yesterday's outfit had been high key professional compared to this new version of Kara and it was beginning to scare her friends.

“Okay, I know that I’m new to this whole Super squad thing/club, or whatever you call yourselves, but…what the hell is wrong with Kara?” Lucy asked as she came storming into James’ office, sure to close the door before she started speaking. 

Winn threw his hands out towards Lucy as if her words alone explained everything he had been trying to say for the last ten minutes. Which, in reality. It did. 

“Why, what happened?” James asked, curious to piece this all together. 

“She stormed into the Copyright department and made the department head nearly wet his pants. I didn’t even know she KNEW some of those words.” Lucy shook herself from the memory and looked between James and Winn. 

“Maybe he deserved it? We saw how she was yesterday. Maybe this is just phase two of making her professional life easier?” James asked, hoping he was right. 

“Something is not right. When the guy tried to defend himself…mind you he was sputtering out excuses, she got angrier and I could swear…”

“See…see!” It wasn’t just him. “What do we do?” Winn hissed, talking over Lucy. He kept sweeping his eyes peeled out the glass panel walls of James’ office for Kara. Aware that if Kara was in the building she could hear them talking no matter how softly he freaked out. 

 “…her eyes turned red for like a split second, but they so did!” 

 “Red eyes?” Winn asked, his forehead scrunching up as he thought about the body snatcher and their red eyes. 

“Did anyone else see that?” James asked suddenly incredibly concerned. 

“No. It happened when she was looking towards my desk at the floor. I’m sure no one else saw.” 

Winn stared at James as if he might know the answer to their conundrum, “Is the body snatcher back?”

Lucy turned to James quickly, “Body snatcher?” 

Winn waved his hand up and down as he tried to figure out what to say. “Yeah there was this agent that…” 

James cleared his throat. Looking pointedly at Winn. 

“Oh…right, uhm, probably best you DON’T know about it.” 

Lucy rolled her eyes, “I’m part of this team now, James. I get to know things.  _All_  things. Especially when there’s a body snatcher!” 

“Another time Luce, I promise.” 

“Fine…” Lucy sighed as she stared at James, making sure he knew with just her eyes that they were going to be talking about this later. 

“Okay, not that this moment for the two of you isn’t important but can we get back to the fact that Kara’s eyes turned red and it might not be Kara at all?” Winn asked in one breath. 

“Right, but what does red eyes mean?”

“I don’t know.” James seemed truly perplexed. “Let me make a few calls and see if I can’t get an answer.” James pulled out his cellphone and stepped towards the opposite side of the room. 

“Who is he calling?” Lucy asked Winn. 

“Probably Alex…” Winn was busy looking out the glass office walls again to make sure they weren’t caught. 

“Clark, hey, it’s me. I need you to get back to me as soon as you get this message. It’s about Kara. I know you want her to fight her own battles but we’re really worried about her. Please call me back as soon as you can.” 

Hearing James say Clark’s name Winn sighed, "Or her cousin.” speaking aloud as his eyes swept the office spaces, looking as suspicious as a terrorist with an “Arrest Me” sign attached to their back. 

“Her…cousin…” Lucy’s eyes narrowed before they widened, a realization hitting her. She stormed up to James and punched him as hard as she could in his upper bicep. Which just ended up hurting her hand. “Clark Kent! CLARK KENT!!!” 

James looked at Winn and the techno wizard threw his arms up in the air in surrender. He was the last person someone should go to for help with their girlfriends. 

“Can you give us a few…” Winn was out the door before James even finished the sentence. “…minutes.”

Thankfully the office was mostly sound proof as a person passing by could only hear rumblings of noise but not make out what was being yelled by an irate Lucy Lane who just found out her sister’s husband was none other than Superman. 

Winn was just glad that he didn’t have to worry about a significant other being mad at him.

Just as he was about to sit down Siobhan rounded on him, making him nearly fall on his ass as he almost missed the seat of the chair. 

“Where’s Kara! If she doesn’t get into Ms. Grant’s office in three minutes, we’re both fired.” 

“I uh…I just heard she was up in Copyright. Two floors down.” Winn pointed down just for good measure. 

Siobhan raced for the stairs, bypassing the elevator all together. Today was not her day, and yet again she had no one to blame but Kara Danvers. 

Sighing in relief for being left alone, finally, Winn clicked on a few buttons to get his computer out of sleep mode and went to get back to work. He took a sip of his coffee as his home page popped up.  

“You know Copyright is two floors up, don’t you Winn?” Kara’s voice sounded from behind him, making Winn spray his coffee all over his desk. He coughed as he went to spin his chair around to face his best friend. He swallowed convulsively as he prepared himself for the sight of Kara. 

Instead of spinning around like he’d planned, he remained facing his sooping desk. Kara squeezed his shoulders and leaned down towards his ear, her lips brushing against the shell of it as she spoke, “You wouldn't happen to be afraid of me now would you, Winn?” Kara raised an eyebrow even knowing Winn was forced to look forward. 

“Wh-why would I be afraid of you?” Then something seemed to click: if Kara was asking if he was afraid of her, maybe he should be. 

Winn tried once again to turn his head. Tried. Kara merely squeezed her fingers tighter on his shoulders, you know, kind of close to his neck, and the action kept him very still.  At least it kept his upper body still.  His foot was tapping an SOS like crazy against the tile floor. 

Kara leaned bodily over Winn's left shoulder, her breasts pressing against him as she did. With what she was wearing it was a wonder the added pressure didn't just pop the fabric open to reveal the--sure to be lacy, worth a fortune--bra underneath. The touch of Kara’s breasts against his body made Winn's hands start shaking. His face turned beet red and he swallowed convulsively. 

What did him in was the smile that showed just a few too many teeth. It was how it reached Kara's eyes. There was a soft red glow around the cornea that Winn only noticed because he was looking for it. It made the smile reach her eyes in a predatory way that made Winn nervous and flushed at the same time. He really was the skittish prey to Kara's sly predator. 

“Sha-should I be?” Winn asked nervously pulling at his shirt collar. 

“That depends...” Kara's hands slid sensually down Winn's upper arms till she grasped the arms of the seat making Winn feel incredibly trapped. 

“A-ahh-on?” Winn stuttered. The computer wizard hadn't stuttered this much since high school. 

“Whether or not you want me to pretend that I didn't hear James go and tattle to Kal-El about my mood change.” 

Winn's eyes widened and his heart, which was already a sputtering mess, pounded with renewed purpose against his chest. 

Kara leaned in closer and although Winn had imagined this situation a hundred times he felt like he was going to pass out from fear rather than excitement. It didn't help that he could now smell Kara's perfume and he could practically taste her strawberry shampoo. He was lucky, or perhaps remiss, that Kara turned to the side at the last second and her lips once again found the shell of his ear rather than his lips. 

“Tell Olsen to mind his business or he'll regret siding against me.” Kara slowly leaned away from Winn and held the shaking man's eyes as she backed away, her stare alone making sure he knew she wasn't bluffing. Her threat was real. 

Winn wasn't sure what scared him more: that Kara made the threat or that she had every intention in keeping it. 

Kara smiled more pleasantly and spun on her heels to see Cat Grant standing in her office doorway, arms crossed, and foot tapping impatiently. 

Cat said nothing as she glared at Kara. Unsure she could voice all the protests she had at the top of her tongue quick enough.

Siobhan arrived to their left out of breath and ready to apologize for being unable to find Kara when she saw the blonde standing in front of Winn's desk. 

The brunette shot a menacing scowl towards Winn for lying to her. Kara snapped her finger in front of Winn's face and attracted Siobhan's attention instantly. “Don't blame him for you being inept at your job. Next time she asks you to find me. Text me. Tell me to be in the office by the time she wants and I will be.” Kara looked away from Siobhan when the girl took a half step back at the tone in Kara's voice. 

The dangerous tone disappeared as she turned and spoke to Cat, finishing her thought. “I always am when Ms. Grant needs me.” 

Cat's angry expression eased the slightest amount at Kara's declaration. There was so much to be taken from those words and the adamant confidence and tangible emotion in them. Yet, Cat still felt the sting of betrayal in her veins. The email from her source at Wayne Corp. clear in her mind. 

“What did I tell you about wearing knock off designer clothing?!” Cat asked, her tone deadly as she raised a single eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, arms still crossed over her chest. 

The dress Kara was wearing was to  _die_  for. 

Cat's mouth had gone dry when she'd seen Kara wearing the black glossed fabric. And Cat only had the pleasure of seeing Kara bent over the back of the wannabe Steve Jobs' chair.  

Maybe it was the fact that Kara had applied for another job, or she'd ignored Cat's specific request not to wear knock offs, or that Kara was blatantly flirting with the infatuated computer hacker, or hell maybe it was all three! But even with all her anger Cat could still admit to herself that Kara looked stunning, physically, in that dress, as well as the confident and capable aura she wore like a jacket over that gorgeous knock off black dress. It didn’t hurt that Kara’s hair was gelled back and the designer heels made her even taller and her form seem even more fit. 

 _Dear God_ , Cat internally felt like she should be fanning herself. 

No wonder the IT wonder boy was as red as a tomato and shaking in his boots. Cat felt like she had to swallow repetitively to keep from drooling. 

Kara looked good...no not good. Kara looked  ** _gorgeous_**. 

Too bad Cat was supposed to be mad at her. 

Kara smiled brightly as Cat looked down at her dress. Kara too took the time to slowly let her eyes rack up Cat's chosen outfit for the day. It was a skirt suit combo with greens and blues, Cat's go to comfort colors. Kara didn't hide her obvious appraisal of her boss, just like Cat had been unable to hide how her eyes slid down and up before sliding just below eye level once again on Kara's well-toned form. 

“I recall you saying I should take them off as you didn't support the piracy industry whether it be clothes, music, or handbags.” Kara recited easily. 

“And yet you come back wearing another hideous knock off.” 

“No.”

“No?” Cat’s voice rose a tad. “Do not lie to me Kiera. I have two eyes and they can spy a fake at a hundred paces.”

“Then Ms. Grant perhaps I should move to stand one hundred and one paces away because this dress is not a knock off. Neither was my outfit yesterday. And nothing I wear tomorrow will be a knock off either.”

“That's impossible!” Siobhan spoke before Cat could comment. “The outfit yesterday cost three grand alone!” Cat seemed surprised and impressed that Siobhan knew the price off the top of her head. “That dress you're wearing is another twelve hundred dollars by itself. Not to mention the leather designer jacket on the back of your chair costs eighteen hundred and the Prada sunglasses!” 

“You're forgetting the shoes and the white gold hair pin.” Kara listed off for Siobhan. 

The brunette assistant blinked truly flabbergasted. From what she had seen of Kara the first week she'd been working here the girls fashion sense left a lot of things to be desired. Now? Now she was a walking designer knock out--not knock off if her words were to be trusted. And if Cat and Siobhan were to admit it to themselves,  _if_  the clothes were truly knock offs they were the best knock offs they'd ever seen. 

“Keira...my office. Now.”

Cat stepped to the side and watched Kara practically glide into her office. Without looking at anyone else Cat closed the doors, wishing, not for the first time, that she hadn't designed this office with glass walls and doors.  

“Take a seat.”  Kara did as she was told, sitting across from Cat on the other couch. She was careful to run her hands over the dress to keep it for bunching up. 

“I'm going to ask you a series of questions and depending on your answers you will still have a job here at CatCo or you'll be packing your things.” 

Kara smirked, crossed her legs, folded her hands upon her lap, and awaited the questions. 

“Did you write the financial reports for Edward?”

Kara stared at Cat as if the woman had let her down. And she had. Kara was hoping for far more interesting questions than ones Cat already had the answers too. 

“I thought we'd established...”

“Yes or no will suffice!”

Kara sighed, “Yes.”

“You wrote them for the last six months?”

Kara remained silent for a few moments too long. “Kiera...”

Kara grit her teeth, “That answer isn't a simple yes or no.”

“Why?”

“Because I've been writing the financial reports for Ed for longer than that. First it was checking his numbers but he made too many mistakes so I would highlight them. At first he ignored them. Then he made the changes and took my advice. I'd been doing that for him for almost seven months before he just started to give me the projects to do myself. That is what I'd been doing for six months.”

Cat had to bite her tongue to keep from possibly screaming or groaning in disgust. “13 months. For over a year you were doing his job. And your own.”

“Yes.” 

Cat's fingers slowly laced tighter together as they rested on her lap. She pressed on, even though she suspected she should add another zero to the prospective raise she was going to offer Kara. At least then it could compete with what Wayne Corp. was offering.

“You were helping Sharen do her departments job for five months?” When Kara remained silent again Cat truly wanted to rip her hair out. No matter it would be too expensive to ruin such well cared for and paid for hair. No, ripping Kara's hair out of that bun would have to do. “Explain if you must! This isn't rocket science Kiera, though I suspect if it were you'd finish it faster than you can answer these simple questions.”

Kara's lips twitched at the half compliment half insult. “Winn helped me develop an algorithm that helps generate statistics based on trends that Sharen and her team were following. They just needed to input the data they were collecting in spreadsheets. At first they did. Then they started asking me to do it. It was only this month that they had me writing the reports from the findings as well.”

“You and Witt created an algorithm?”

“Yes.”

“What are your qualifications to do…any of these things?”

“I have an associates in physics, I was in the midst of getting an associates in computer science last year before I needed to stop. I have a masters in international relations and I have a bachelor’s in journalism. Which was a dual bachelors program where I received the highest honors from Metropolis University. All of which is on my resume. Except the courses for computer science. Yet what makes me most qualified is my experiences. I worked with numbers all throughout college, as I worked as a bookkeeper. I had four internships, one of which was at the Daily Planet as a media relations analyst. I don't just have paper to back up my qualifications but experiences.” Which was more important to Cat then degrees. “I'm more qualified than many of the people running these departments. But you already know that.” Kara’s impressive background was one of the reasons Cat had hired Kara three years ago. 

“So, Cat, do you have any other questions?”

Cat felt goosebumps rise along the skin of her arms at the way her tongue seemed to glide effortlessly from Kara's lips. It was slow and deliberate, like Kara was remiss to stop savoring the taste of it on her tongue to let it pass her lips at all. “Who gave you permission to use my first name?” 

“You did.” Cat cringed, realizing that she had given Kara permission to call her Cat, when they were alone. She'd done so while slightly intoxicated and against better judgement but she'd done it. Rather than go into how Cat's decision for there to be nothing more than professional conversations between them voided that offer, Cat ignored it for now and focused on a subject she really wanted answers on. Besides, she enjoyed the way Kara said her name. It held more than the awe and respect of Kara's reverent Ms. Grant's. 

“Did you submit your resume at Wayne Corp?” 

Kara's eyes widened. That she hadn't been expecting. 

“Auhh..." She drew out the word for several seconds as if trying to piece together how Cat knew about that. 

“When were you going to give your two weeks’ notice?” Cat didn’t wait for Kara to answer, she went full steam ahead. “Or would you have simply sent me a text saying you quit? That's more your generations style. Isn't it?”

Kara grit her teeth, as a sudden rise in anger flared up inside her like a lit pile of dry corn stalk. 

“That generalization could be said about my generation. But then there are generalizations about every generation. Would you like me to list some used to simplify your generation? Specifically, towards women?” Kara asked a dangerous glint in her eyes. “The fact that there are those that can and probably  _will_  be so disrespectful and unprofessional to quit without notice, doesn't mean every millennial will fit into that mold.” Kara shook her head, “I'm disappointed, Ms. Grant. I thought you were wittier than that. Relying on generalizations to insult?” Kara rolled her eyes dramatically. 

“Nice diversion tactic. Insinuating I'm unintelligent or incapable of stringing a sentence together to represent the  _blonde_  women of my generation.” Cat met Kara's stare, a fleck of enjoyment present as she fully accepted the challenge Kara was offering to her. Unsurprisingly Cat found the overt insubordination  _incredibly_  attractive. 

Kara's lips slowly lifted into a pleased grin. “Cat Grant is more than capable of stringing sentences together. Cat Grant built an empire by stringing one sentence together after another.” 

“Flattery will not distract me. You've yet to answer the question.” Yet it took years’ worth of practice to keep from flushing at the undeniably seductive quality to Kara's voice. 

Kara batted her eyelashes and leaned her head forward, tilting it to the side as her grin remained in place, showcasing her interest in what Cat had to say.  Kara enjoyed how the sight of her obvious interest made Cat's heart race and caused the older woman's pores to emit rivulets of pheromones. The knowledge that she could affect Cat like this was intoxicating. She leaned forward so her hands were resting sideways on her knees and the light in the room played shadows in between the cut of the dress and her décolletage. 

Oh, flattery might not distract Cat but Kara realized something...or two something's...that would. 

“Yes.”

Cat blinked and leaned as far away from Kara as she could! 

Cat pushed her back against the fabric of her couch as if hoping there would be more room to get farther away from Kara if she kept pushing. The distance would do her sanity some good. 

The scent of Kara's perfume hung in the office and the space between them was slowly equalizing the scent around the entirety of the room. It smelled ...sweeter...somehow. It wasn't nearly as thick or strong as others perfume but there was something distinctly different about it today. It was more potent than it ever had been before. The scent and Kara's sudden vixenality were making Cat salivate, the smell and personality swap evoking something in her that she hadn't known existed. Or chose not to recognize as existing. 

“Yy-ah-es?” Cat asked, clearing her throat and pretending that her voice didn't crack. Because it hadn't. Not even a little bit. 

Kara's lips twitched, giving herself away. “I submitted my resume to Wayne Corp.”

Cat stood up, startling both Kara and Cat herself. Hearing Kara admit to the betrayal made it all the more real. Cat straightened her suit and moved towards her desk, trying to appear as if the news hadn't rattled her as much as it had. She took off the folder she’d been prepared to give Kara this morning. Her grip on the material only tightened as she spun on her heel and walked towards Kara. She had three seconds to decide if she wanted to offer it to Kara or not.   
  
Deciding to give herself more time she turned at the last second and made her way back to her own couch. If she wanted Kara to have the folder she’d extend it towards the younger woman. For now, she needed time. Time to sort through the haze of her own feelings. 

Setting the folder in her lap Cat cupped her hands on top of it, her eyes staring at Kara. Whose interest was on the folder in Cat’s lap, just as Cat had planned. Let Kara worry, let her think it was a termination packet. 

“How did you know about my submission?” Kara asked, needing to piece things together. It was almost as humbling as Cat being able to find her first grade report card when she thought she was Supergirl. 

‘It’s the little things that trip you up.’ If Cat didn’t care about Kara professionally, why would she be questioning her about a resume submitted to another company? If Cat didn’t need her, why snoop? If Cat didn’t care for her outside of the parameters she set up for them in the office now, why would she look betrayed and hurt? 

The micro expressions of Cat’s betrayal and pain were quickly covered up. Cat was nothing if not an expert at hiding her real feelings. It was how she’d remained in business so long. 

So, Cat merely smiled slyly at Kara as she tiled her head. Cat Grant had her ways. If anyone knew that, it was Kara Danvers.

“You should know that I submitted my resume with Wayne Corp. three years ago.” Kara continued, watching Cat’s self-satisfied grin disappear. 

“Three years ago…” 

“Yes, they’re constantly calling and offering me positions. I worked as an intern in their special projects division for two and a half years during college. Interned at one of their smaller plants during high school.”

It didn’t hurt that she also knew Bruce Wayne personally. He was always trying to get her to come and work for him. She’d helped him develop several machines while she was in college. All of them patented. Which is where she had the money to blow on the clothes she bought the other day. It was also how she’d afforded her apartment in National City. The last invention she helped him develop was a regeneration tool for healing human skin. It would be reaching the market in the next few years, as they were still beta testing it at certain locations around the globe. That invention had given her a million dollars alone. It would prove to be even more fruitful when Bruce started producing the machine and putting it on the market. Kara also had stock in the company. The stock and the other three inventions she’d helped develop were always putting money in her savings account. 

“Mr. Wayne has been after me since I was in high school. He thought it was a waste of talent and intellect for me to go into journalism.” 

“You know Bruce Wayne?” Cat suddenly was more suspicious, and maybe a little jealous. Wayne was one of the hardest billionaires to get a hold of these days. He attended parties for a short time, donated his money, and kept to the shadows. No longer was he the party boy he’d been in his youth. Though, his taste in women had always been young and beautiful. 

Kara laughed softly, “I have dinner with him whenever I’m in Metropolis.” Which wasn't nearly as often as it had been while she was in college. 

“Do you take me for a fool?” Cat was done with Kara’s fairytales. There was no way her assistant knew Bruce Wayne. She was just a liar and a cheat and not the woman Cat thought she was. 

“You are a lot of things, Cat, but a fool is not one of them. Take what I’m saying how you will.”

“How can I trust you, Kara?” It was a slip, she hadn’t meant to call the girl by her name. 

“You have to have faith in me first, Ms. Grant.” 

Cat wanted nothing more than to say that she did have faith in Kara. But she didn’t. Recently, she couldn’t trust her own opinions when it came to Kara in particular. Her conflicting feelings about the woman convoluted her opinion. And for the first time in years she couldn't trust her gut or the facts because the facts were so polar opposite the answer could lay anywhere in between. 

Kara was shocked by Cat's silence. Cat didn’t have faith in her. How could that be? How? When had Cat not had faith in her? It had to be some mistake. Cat just needed to SAY something. Kara felt her heart crack inside her chest held together by nothing but a sliver of hope that Cat would say something. Anything...

Cat remained silent. 

There was an undeniably strong pain beneath her ribs that the media mogul had caused with her silence. Kara took in a breath but felt like she wasn't getting enough air. Suddenly the simplest of actions, like breathing, was hard. Standing or moving was nearly impossible. Gravity seemed to finally be affecting her as she tried to stand but stumbled back into the couch. It took her several mortifying seconds to push herself up to her feet, her legs weak. 

Steeling herself and refusing to let tears fall, Kara stood up slowly and didn't fall back. 

Cat Grant didn’t have faith in her. She didn’t trust Kara. Yet she trusted Supergirl. Cat had faith in Supergirl enough to spare but when it came to Kara Danvers Cat had nothing in her to spare. Nothing! 

Kara wasn’t Supergirl to Cat. Kara was just…nothing. No one. Cat made that very clear. Kara was no one to her. She would choose to alienate Kara when things got hard. She would turn her back on Kara when Kara needed her most because Cat chose Adam over Kara. There would always be people Cat chose over Kara. And if it were just her sons then maybe Kara could understand, if it were only Adam and Carter Kara could understand. But it wasn't. Cat would choose Supergirl, or Maxwel Lord, or Lucy, or Siobhan! Cat would just ...always...pick someone else over Kara. Until Kara did something about it. 

Kara was done waiting for it to be her turn. If she wanted Cat to see her, to see how valuable she is, she needed to leave her. Only then would Cat realize how much she needed Kara. And maybe, if she was lucky, Cat would see how much she needed Kara as more than an assistant. 

Cat Grant could have CatCo. If Cat could take away the place that made Kara happy, Kara would take Supergirl away from Cat, from CatCo. Let Cat find her own headlines without her help. Kara stood in place her anger simmering till she was livid and practically felt nothing. Kara had caused that ship to sink today FOR CAT! To give Cat her storylines. The train had just been a lucky coincidence. 

Screw Cat and CatCo and Winn and James and Lucy and Siobhan! 

Let Cat stay here in National City and rot. Kara would leave and take Supergirl with her. Fuck Cat Grant. She wanted to make Kara miserable, take the things she needed most from her when she had nothing else, well then Kara would do the same for Cat. 

Cat Grant would rue the day she slighted Kara Danvers. 

“I’ll finish my time here today. I’ll do my best to make sure Siobhan is ready to take on the position by herself. She’s incapable as it is though, so I’m sure you’ll be looking for another assistant by the end of the week, if she lasts that long.” 

“Kiera, what are you saying?” 

Kara ignored how worried and ashen Cat suddenly appeared. 

Kara was staring at Cat but she wasn’t seeing her. She saw nothing. She felt nearly nothing. There was something small but it was growing. It was building and making staying in this room with Cat harder. The fire in her stomach spread like it was Southern California during the dry windy season. It swept from one extremity to the next, her hands fisting at her sides as she tried to control herself. Her heart raced against her chest painfully and her head hurt as if she was just itching to use her heat vision. 

“I’d like to thank you, Ms. Grant, for the opportunities you’ve given me here. For…teaching me everything that you have. It truly has been an incredible three years. But, it’s time I move on. Consider this my resignation.”

“Kiera, stop this nonsense!” 

Kara continued to ignore Cat, speaking over her when needed. “Since I can’t be trusted, I suppose I’ll forgo my two weeks’ notice. I’ll play the role you’d like me to play. Give you reason to make yourself feel better about all of this. I’ll finish the day. Ensure Siobhan is prepared. As best as I can anyway. Then you won’t see me again. So…” Kara bit into her bottom lip, unknowingly two tears fell from her eyes, eyes which she had yet to blink as she stared at Cat without actually seeing her. “Congratulations. Ms. Grant.  You win.” 

Cat felt like all the air in the office had been sucked out forcefully. 

“I hope you’ll live to regret this.” 

Cat stood stock still, feeling as if she were powerless to do anything else as she watched Kara spin on her heels and leave the office. 

“Kara!” Cat’s voice caught around the syllables of Kara’s name, nearly choking her as she watched Kara bypass her desk and walk towards the ladies’ room. 

Cat wanted to follow after her but she was rooted in place. The door to her office slowly closed and clicked shut. The sound echoing in Cat’s ears like a distant boat horn through the fog.  The sound was drowned out by the feel of her heart as it cracked, the slivers of pain carving themselves into the venerable muscle within her chest. 

Today truly was a new chapter in the book of life. It just so happened it was a chapter Cat Grant wished she could rip out and re-write. 

**End Part Five**

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When things seem like they're at their worst...something even worse happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU all for the amazing response to this story. I'm thrilled that you're enjoying it so much. :-D 
> 
> I look forward to hearing what you think of this story.

**Part 6**

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

The office was rife with tension; it always was when Cat was displeased.

Everyone on the main floor was slowly getting a taste of what the next few weeks were going to be like without Kara. Cat was already one mistake away from firing Siobhan. The girl was as incompetent as Kara said she was. But whose fault was that? The girl hadn't even been given a real chance. Maybe with Kara's training she'd be decent. Cat could only hope. 

Siobhan was running around the office like a chicken without a head. No one had seen Kara since she left Cat’s office. Siobhan had even texted the girl and she was still nowhere to be found. Siobhan wasn't the only one to text Kara though.  Winn, James, and Lucy had each texted the woman several times and she’d yet to respond to any of them. Hell, Siobhan had even been the one to look for her in the ladies’ room only to find nothing. 

It was nearly one pm and Cat was actively not thinking about Kara (and failing).

How dare that slip of a girl tell her that she hoped she’d regret her actions. How dare she!

Cat would be damned to admit it, but she already _did_ regret her actions. She’d regretted them since she’d done them. Now she couldn’t take back what she _hadn’t_ said to Kara when all she could think about was the many things she should have said.

Cat was stupid. She hadn’t told Kara that she _did_ have faith in Kara; that Cat did trust her. Before all of this between them since Adam, Kara was the one-person Cat could trust to tell her the truth, to have her back. Now, Cat could only hope she hadn’t pushed hard enough for Kara to retaliate. It would be easy for Kara to make Cat’s life miserable. Cat knew that. But she was slow to call security to come and escort Kara out of the building like she normally would for any employee who resigned giving no further notice. 

She didn’t want the rift to be completely impassable. She wanted to be able to salvage her relationship with Kara. She _wanted_ …a lot of things. Many of them all having to do with Kara and taking back what she’d done. 

Why, why hadn’t she just said that she did have faith in Kara? It wasn’t like she didn’t…not usually. It was just that this new Kara was, surprising, disconcerting, and eye opening. This new Kara was sexy in ways meek Kara was merely attractive. The new persona was strong and capable and showed Cat that Kara could be capable of more than she let on. Kara might just be able to handle the pressures of…(dating)…Cat. 

And yet, now that Cat knew this about Kara, knew that the fantasies about her assistant didn’t merely have to remain as fantasies (so long as Kara approved of course), well, Kara was leaving. Cat had pushed too far and insulted Kara in a way she’d never meant to. 

Oh yes, Cat did regret what she’d done. She just didn’t know how to fix it. 

“Ms. Grant…” Cat’s eyes snapped up to the frazzled brunette. Without Kara here Siobhan was learning how much work she’d actually have to do, and it seemed the brunette wasn’t as up to the challenge as Cat hoped she would be. 

“Mr. Young called, he said that he’s stuck in traffic and won’t be able to make it to Johnson Middle School by two.” 

Her darling boy was never an inconvenience. It was just sometimes the people responsible for taking care of him while she was at work were incompetent. Which made her life so much harder sometimes; all of which was not Carter’s fault. 

“Call David. Tell him to be waiting at the curb.” Cat picked up her bag and left the office to pick up her son. “Clear my schedule for the next two hours. I will be back by four.” 

“I…uhm, but the…” Cat raised an eyebrow at Siobhan as the woman stuttered as she stood in front of the elevator. “Right away Ms. Grant.” 

“Good.” Cat put on her sunglasses and disappeared behind the elevator doors. 

Siobhan sighed as she went back to her desk. She would have to reschedule several important meetings for some time this week, which meant rescheduling less important meetings for next week in the very few time slots that were still available in Cat’s calendar. She also needed to make sure that copyright came downstairs with a contract, Legal completed an affiliation agreement, and human resources gave her new candidates for the position vacated by Edward; all while answering phones and doing anything that was dropped on her desk to complete. 

“Where is Kara?!” Siobhan finally yelled out loud, as if someone on the floor might be able to answer her question. 

Siobhan looked immediately to Winn’s desk, but Winn wasn’t at his desk. The last Siobhan had seen him he was heading into James’ office. Groaning Siobhan went about her work hoping she could get all of this done in a reasonable amount of time. 

“I told you. All you had to do was text me.” Kara stated as she suddenly appeared at her desk. She swept into her seat and Siobhan opened her mouth to retort when she finally caught sight of Kara.

“Uhm…are you…okay?” Siobhan didn’t really care, but Kara looked terrible. Her face looked sunken in and there were distinguishable red circles around her eyes as if she’d been crying. 

“No.” Kara answered as she picked up several binders from her inner drawer and brought them over to Siobhan. “This is the EA Bible I was working on upstairs.” 

“What…why are you giving this to me?” Siobhan asked, wondering why she hadn’t been given this when she started two weeks ago. 

“Because today is my last day.” Kara explained over her shoulder, her tone void of any emotion at all. It was as if she didn’t care. “You’ll need to do all of this by yourself. I personally don’t think you’ll be able to do it. But I wouldn’t be upset if you proved me wrong.” 

“I’m more than capable of proving  **YOU**  wrong.” Siobhan spit out, her ire at Kara palatable. 

“I hope so.” Kara blandly stated, not even looking at the other woman. She tilted her head to the side as if she heard something, and a scowl spread over her countenance instantly. “Make sure you study that information. You’ll need it.” Kara slammed her desk drawer closed, making the desk itself move an inch forward at the impact.   
  
She practically glided towards James’ office leaving Siobhan alone. Again.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

“I don’t know what to do. What should we do?” Winn whisper panicked. Kara hadn’t answered them in almost three hours. 

“I called Alex, she hasn’t heard from her either.” Lucy said from the speaker phone. Everyone at CatCo knew that Cat Grant was on a rampage thanks to something that happened with Kara. No one knew the whole story, but Lucy knew better than to be hanging out in James’ office right now. But they still needed to talk, so they’d called her desk line. All three of them terribly worried about their friend. 

The door to James’ office was slammed open, cracking the glass, yet Kara stormed in as if she didn’t notice. She stalked towards Winn and James, a dangerous noticeable red glint in her eyes.

“The three of you need to stop talking about me all the time and calling my family when I don’t come to you with every little problem I’m facing.” 

Winn squeaked in fear as he jumped back from Kara. James stood his ground but his pulse picked up.

“We’re just worried about you.” Lucy stated from the speaker phone, unable to see the dangerous woman that stood less than a foot away from Winn and James. A dangerous woman capable of many _many_ super human things. Like ripping them limb from limb if she got angry, or shooting a hole through their bodies if she glared at them too fiercely. 

“Worry about someone else.” Kara stepped over to the desk and pressed her finger straight through the cheap equipment, effectively ending the call. “As for you two…” Kara looked at James and Winn her finger pointed at each of them. “…get back to work and stop meddling.” 

“Kara please we’re just...” 

“Just what…? Just WHAT!?” Kara screamed as she stepped up into James’ face. “Hmm?” She looked up at him with red glowing eyes. “What are you James? Worried?” 

“Yes…Kara we care, we’re just…you’re not yourself.” Winn nervously stated, trying to pull Kara’s attention away from James. 

“Well, I won’t be either of your problems after today. So, do me a favor. And stay out of my business.” Kara tossed over her shoulder, a part of her still conscious enough to know that these were her friends and she didn’t want to hurt them and if she stayed, she couldn’t ensure their safety.

“What does that mean?” James followed after Kara and grabbed her arm. “Kara what does that mean?” 

The only reason Kara stopped was because she didn’t want it to look strange for her to be able to pull James around like a ragdoll, but her eyes fell onto his hand as he held her bicep. 

“Let. Go. Of. Me.” The deadly tone in Kara's voice was nothing compared to the threat in her eyes as her eyes lit up as if she were going to use her heat vision on James. 

James did as he was told, first his fingers slowly released their grip on Kara's arm, then he pulled his arm back removing his palm from her skin. 

The scowl on Kara's face, the bright glow of her eyes, and the way the veins around her neck pulsed with an obvious red glow was terrifying. James actually felt a cold sweat form over his body instantly as he went into shock, the fear of death overwhelming him. 

“What the hell happened? Why did you hang up on me?!” Lucy asked her eyes focused on James' door, the new cracks present in the glass holding her gaze as she walked into the room. It was only when Winn grabbed her hand and tugged her to a halt that Lucy saw the fear upon James' face, his color a sickly ashen.

Kara slowly turned towards Lucy and the woman gasped at the sight of her friend. She prided herself on not stepping back however. The glow to Kara's eyes disappeared in a blink of an eye but the red pulse to her veins faded slowly over the next few seconds.  

“If it isn't Lucy Lane, esquire.” Kara seethed. “Come to put the alien in a cage? Or just release a homicidal robot meant to kill me on the populace?” Kara's head tilted to the side, “You know, your father never did thank me for cleaning up his mess.” Kara seemed to grow angrier at this thought, a red hue sliding through her veins along her arms to her tightly held fists. “No one ever thanks me for cleaning up their messes...” Kara hissed. 

Lucy gulped down her fear as she faced Kara, “No. He didn't. But I did. I thanked you.” Lucy kept Kara's focus on her because Winn and Lucy could see James leaning heavily against the wall. “I thank you for everything you do. As Supergirl and as Kara. So does Winn. I've heard him. And James! They've always been your biggest supporters and cheerleaders. Even Cat i...”

“Ms. Grant...is a scared prissy bitch pretending to be greater and grander than she is.” 

Lucy was surprised by the vitriol lacing each insult. Lucy had never heard Kara insult Cat before. Ever. Even on their most stressful days Kara was always the one defending Cat against the obvious frustrations of their little group. 

“And you three...” Lucy was forced to take a step back as Kara advanced towards her with purpose. “Are always nagging me. Always telling me what to do,” Kara turned to look at James, “…how to feel...” This time Kara looked at Winn, “...expecting perfection.” Now she likes at Lucy though it was obvious she was speaking to all of them. “You tell me to follow the rules and how it should be done, and when I fail. When I don't meet your expectations...when I’ll do things my way, come out of my shell. You turn on me!” Kara swept her eyes through the room. “You're as bad as Alex and Hank. With their rules and regulations and expectations!” Kara's voice rose, her breathing picking up as she became angrier and angrier. 

“I’m finished listening to any of yah—” 

Lucy watched as Kara’s attention was drawn to something happening behind the solid concrete beam that cut off James’ view of Cat’s office. The fury on Kara’s face before had been terrifying. However, the way Kara’s body rippled with the glowing red energy after hearing or seeing whatever was beyond that beam was **_petrifying_**. 

Lucy didn’t know what happened. One moment she was standing in front of the door to James’ office, the next she was on the ground several feet away laying on top of Winn. The man groaning and choking for air, her weight having knocked the oxygen from his lungs. Kara had literally tossed her into him, the both of them flying several feet at the strength behind the throw, as if they were a basketball. 

The door to James’ office didn’t survive Kara’s fury. The glass that was cracked was showering to the ground in broken drops this time around. 

“Ugh…call Alex.” Winn rasped. 

Lucy groaned aloud as she rolled off of Winn, her body aching from the collision with Winn’s surprisingly sturdy form. Rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling for a moment Lucy heard James furiously texting someone with one hand while searching in his desk draw with his other. 

Lucy slowly got up to her feet and went towards the door. Her heels crushing some of the slivers of glass littering the entryway now. 

Lucy looked back at James, eyes wide and face pale. “We have a bigger problem now.” 

“How could there be a bigger problem than Kara turning evil?” Winn asked, exasperated as he held his left arm awkwardly against his side and stumbled towards Lucy to investigate this other problem. 

His eyes widened as he saw what Lucy was referring to. “Yep. Bigger problem.” Winn nodded, watching from his vantage point as Kara pointed a menacing finger at Siobhan, the other protectively opened and just barely touching the trembling shoulder of one: Carter Grant. 

“We’re all dead. If Kara doesn’t kill us. Cat will.” 

For once, Lucy didn’t think Winn was exaggerating. 

“I think it’s time you call Superman and get him here  _ten minutes ago_!” Lucy’s nerves got the best of her as her voice got progressively louder and her hands started to shake. 

James rounded the corner of his desk with his old watch, the one with the Superman emergency button and pressed it as he handed Lucy his cellphone, which showed Alex’s name on the display. 

“Luce, your cellphone.” Lucy was already reaching into her back pocket to hand it to him, wincing only minutely at the twinge in her shoulder as she did. They swapped phones, Lucy stepping further into the office to speak with Alex, her tone serious as she gave Alex the blow by blow as she knew it. 

“Winn…” 

“Yeah…?” Winn couldn’t look away from Kara, afraid that if he did he might turn back to the scene in front of him and see something not even his darkest nightmares could conjure. 

“Call Cat. Get her back here, now.” 

“Uh…yeah, okay.” Winn nodded his head slowly, his movements feeling a bit sluggish as he pulled out his cellphone and began searching his contacts for Cat’s number. Better it be James that went out into hells fire then him. He had never in all the time he'd known Kara and known her secret been afraid of her. But now, standing in the remnants of James' shattered office door, his arm probably sprained or broken, he was afraid of Kara.

The reality of that fear made him sick to his stomach because it made Kara an unknown. She could do anything and now that she was like this just because she was capable of something meant she was 98% more likely to do it. For a woman that could lift buildings on a whim, her having no filter in actions or words was a truly horrifying thought. 

James kept Lucy’s cellphone unlocked and made his way towards the commotion taking place outside Cat’s office. Hoping that Alex, or Clark, or Cat, would get here before it was too late for Kara to be saved. God help them if she hurt Carter. She'd never be able to come back from that. Ever. 

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Carter was excited. He’d just spent two great days with his dad, which was rare, and now he was going to get to see Kara and Winn! Something else that was rare. 

His mom always apologized for the time he needed to spend in the office, but he loved it. He got to speak with Kara and that made his day.

Kara was nice and funny and kind and beautiful. She was also smart and competent. Kara made him feel comfortable and safe. She understood him almost as easy as his mom did and that was rare for him. Winn was also really cool but he wasn't as great as Kara. 

Carter wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. He knew that. He could recognize his differences from others as easily as he could recognize different species of tree frog.

He was different than other kids, and he didn’t mind that so much. It made things harder at school on certain days, like when Tommy Ferraro picked on him (Carter had read in a psychology journal that Tommy's behavior was caused by his own insecurities about himself so he picked on others to make himself feel better). 

For the most part Carter was okay with being different. His differences were what made Kara like him more than anyone else. She’d said so herself, and Kara had never lied to him. Kara liked that he was different and that he didn't fit in because she didn't fit in either. People didn't see that when they looked at her but Carter did. Carter saw the real Kara, not just the person she pretended to be. He saw beyond the glasses and the nervous ticks. He saw a hero in Kara's eyes, his favorite hero, besides his mom of course! 

Carter sometimes didn’t understand things like social cues, but unlike some of the other assistants his mom had over the years, Kara didn’t comment on that. Kara didn’t make loud noises, or touch him without his permission. She didn't start speaking to him until she was standing in front of him and she always _always_ smiled at him. At first Carter thought she was just another fake. But then Kara would listen to him. Actually listen to him. She made his differences, the needs he had to keep his anxiety in check, an everyday thing. ‘No biggie.’ She never commented on the things she did for him and that endeared Kara to him. 

Kara always listened to his ramblings about his new obsession even though every time they saw each other the obsession was different as he searched for the ultimate obsession. Kara never made him feel like a failure. The only other person to ever treat him normally was his mom. Even his father didn’t know how to talk to him most of the time, but they still had fun. Well, they tried to have fun, most of the time. 

Recently Carter had become obsessed with Supergirl. He was fascinated with her ability to fly. Carter was good with numbers and spacial equivalents. He was good with scientific reasoning and could remember almost everything he’d ever read. He tried to find a mathematical explanation for Supergirl’s ability to fly. He studied gravity and genetics and physics but he was still no closer to figuring out how Supergirl flew than he had been when his project began. 

That wasn’t to say that he didn’t have his theories. There were several theories that Carter wanted to discuss with Kara. He knew she would appreciate his work on the subject. Kara was good with numbers and she was just as smart as Carter. She could talk to him in ways that sometimes even his mom couldn’t because there were a lot of things she didn’t understand when it came to science. But his mom always listened and did her best to understand, asking just the right questions that made Carter proud of himself for being able to explain things so that they became understandable to Cat. 

Carter wondered sometimes if Kara felt the same type of pride that Carter did when she explained something to him that he didn’t understand. His mom always felt proud of him when he understood something she explained to him about interpersonal interactions with other people. It only seemed natural to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for such things. 

Carter was pondering the possibility of Kara feeling pride in him and their friendship as he stepped off the elevator onto his mother’s floor. He kept his head down as he made his way towards her office, never making eye contact with anyone he passed. He was a bit anxious. His routine had been broken today because of the driver and he was looking forward to the sanctity of his mother’s office and the calming presence of Kara and his mother. He would be fine. He just needed to make it to his mother’s office. 

The driver hadn’t been able to pick him up so Carter had called for car service to drop him off at his mom’s office. It was the logical thing to do. His mom was too busy to pick him up herself and he kind of wanted to surprise Kara. He had a cup of hot coco for himself and Kara. Kara’s had a dash of caramel while his had marshmallows in it. 

His mom told him last night over the phone that Kara was going to be promoted soon. Carter was happy for Kara, but sad for his mom. She seemed very sad about promoting Kara. Carter had looked up the word promote in the dictionary just to be sure that it was a good thing. His mother’s reaction probably had to do with her affection for Kara. 

Carter was terrible with social interactions and reading situations, but he knew his mother very well. He knew her emotions and her motivations, his mother had been his first subject. He learned many of his own mannerisms from her. It was one of the confusing things of life, Carter decided, that his mother could be both happy and sad over Kara’s promotion. A promotion was meant to be a joyous occasion but his mother’s sadness insinuated that there was something else bothering her with Kara’s promotion. Carter suspected it had to do with his mother’s infatuation with Kara. 

Cat had explained to him that Kara was going on to bigger and better things than just fetching her coffee and managing her schedule. This had confused Carter immensely. He’d been forced to wonder if his mother was truly unaware of all Kara did for her at work. Kara did so much more than fetch coffee and manage a schedule, and he wanted to tell his mom that in person, though he suspected she must know of all the work Kara did if Kara was being promoted. 

Carter frowned as he made it to Kara’s desk but she was nowhere to be found. He dared to lift his head and peer into his mother’s office but she was nowhere to be seen either.

Another bump in his planned routine.

Carter’s heartbeat picked up a fraction as his palms became sweaty. His plan was derailed. Kara and his mother were not where they were supposed to be.

He would **not** panic. There was _no_ reason to panic.

His mom was around here somewhere. Kara was as well. They were close. They were safe.

There was _no reason_ to get uptight and tense.

They would be back soon. He could just go into his mom’s office and wait, away from the noise and the people he didn’t know and the eyes following him. 

“Who are you?” An unknown voice spoke to him from somewhere behind him. 

“I’m…” Carter was interrupted, the voice louder now as it addressed him. His eyes were focused on the floor and the seventeen steps it would take him to get into the safety of his mom’s office. Sixty steps from the elevator to the office doors. Forty-six steps to Kara’s desk behind her chair, forty-eight to stand beside her desk, seventy-nine steps to reach his mother’s desk, seventy-one steps to reach the first seat of the left couch. 

“What are you doing here?” A hand touched his shoulder and he froze. The grip of the fingers was tight, keeping him in place. He felt his heart stop in his chest for several seconds as he held his breath. Someone was touching him. A stranger. Was. Touching. Him. 

Carter’s face was turning red the longer he didn’t breathe. 

It was only seventeen more steps till safety.   
Seventeen steps.  

“Where is your mother…father…guardian?” 

Seventeen steps to the white couch.   
He could wait on that couch for his mom and Kara.  

“Do you speak English?”

He had hot chocolate for Kara.   
Her favorite.  

“Do you speak at all?” 

He had his notebook   
It had his theories about Supergirl’s ability to fly.  

“Ughch…alright kid. Come with me. Let’s go find where you’re supposed to be. As if I don’t have better things to do than bring some…slow, mute…kid to security.” The hand tightened on his shoulder and tried to turn him. 

He just needed to breathe.   
To breathe.   
 _Breathe…_  

“Carter…”

Kara! 

That was Kara’s voice.  

He couldn’t move.   
He couldn’t breathe. 

_‘Kara!’_ Carter screamed internally. His eyes red and bulging as his chest ached. The hand still on him. Get it off. Getitoff, getitoff, getitoff, getitoff!

“There you are. This kid was trying to get into Cat’s office. I was just bringing him to security. Figures he’d be here for you.” 

“Remove your hand from him, now!” 

His fingers were numb and the cup holder fell from his hands, the hot liquid splashing all around the floor and against his leg. It was hot. It should burn. But he didn’t feel it. 

“You know who he is?” 

“I said let him go!” 

The hand on his shoulder finally let go and a woman screamed in pain. “You bitch, you bitch.” 

“Carter…” Kara, that was Kara’s voice. Tears fell from Carter’s eyes as he stared at the floor and watched the hot chocolate slowly seep into big puddles of delicious, waste, on the tile floors. 

“You…ugh…you broke my finger!”

“Carter…breathe. Please, breathe…” Kara whispered. Things around the edges of Carter’s vision were going black. He was going to pass out. 

Then…then, there was Kara. She was sitting in the puddles of hot chocolate and her face was right in front of him. She was looking into his eyes. She was worried. She was angry. She was scared. There was something different about her. But she was still Kara. His Kara.  His friend.

“God, what is wrong with you!? What…Olsen, get off me. Let me go. Did you see what she did. Jesus Christ…you’re crazy. Psychotic!”

Then Kara wasn’t looking at him. She was looking behind him. “James, shut her up. Or I will.” 

Then Kara was looking at him and her eyes were soft. But there was red in them. And everything was starting to shake and ache. 

“Carter, breathe. Take a deep breath in. Please. It’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll protect you. Just breathe for me. Take a deep breath in for me. Focus on my voice. Focus on me. Only me….” 

Carter focused and focused and forced himself to listen to Kara. He sucked in a breath, gasping as he did. He felt even more light heated as his heart raced painfully against his chest. He groaned in pain, his facial expression hardly changing as he continued to stare ahead. 

His legs wobbled but he didn’t fall. He took in another small breath and blew out. Kara coaching him through each one until he was breathing too fast. His chest heaving as he sucked in too much air, not able to get enough no matter how much or how often he breathed it in. His chest ached with throbbing pain and his whole arm was tingling now as if it had fallen asleep. 

“Carter. I’m going to pick you up. Okay? I won’t hurt you.” 

Carter could only nod his head frantically. Kara picked him up and carried him like a groom did a bride into his mother’s office. 

“Kara…Kara wait.” 

They were outside. The sounds from the office were silenced. The air was fresher. It was lighter than the oppressive office air and helped his burning lungs feel soothed. The cool breeze on his skin made him shiver, but not with cold. He didn’t have his pressure jacket. He hadn’t needed it in so long. 

Tears fell from his eyes without his control making him seem like a baby. How embarrassing. Kara probably thought he was a freak for sure now. Just like the kids at school. He was a freak and she would leave him alone after this. 

“I’m going to help you calm down okay….” 

Carter nodded his head as he sobbed, choking on his tears and the air he was sucking in. His nose was running and getting all over Kara’s pretty dress. 

Kara stood him up on his wobbling legs and maneuvered his arms slowly, explaining what she was doing as she did it. 

Kara helped move his arms so he was hugging himself, one arm under the other and his hands grasping onto his shoulder blades from around his armpits. 

The sound of ripping fabric reached his ears as Kara tore the slit of her dress up more than it had been moments ago. 

Carter brought his hand up to wipe at his cheeks. Mortified that he couldn't stop crying and he just couldn't calm down. 

Kara wasn't even commenting on his tears. She seemed only concerned. Once he finished wiping at his cheeks, the surfaces still wet, Kara helped him put his arms the right way again. She was kneeling in front of him so she was almost eye level with him as he sat on the couch. The cool air outside was helping but he just couldn't get his heart to calm down. 

Kara smiled at him with a kind spec in her eyes. It made him hiccup through his tears. 

 “I’m going to lay in front of you, okay, and hold you tight against me and the couch.  You’re going to feel the way my chest is moving, the way I’m breathing, and you’re going to do your best to match me.” He nodded and hummed an affirmative like sound.

Kara brushed his sticky hair away from his eyes before she got on the couch beside him. She helped him lay down with his back against the couch. Then she laid down beside him on her side and wrapped her arms just under his own, squeezing against him till he was snug between the couch and her body. His head was just at her shoulder so when he rested his head against it he could hear her heart beating and hear her taking decidedly long noisy breathes. In. Then out. In...then out...

Carter sniffled and focused on breathing like Kara said. He felt her chest filling with air and then decompressing as she exhaled. It took several minutes but he finally started to match her breathing. It took forever for his heart to stop pounding against his chest. But the sound of Kara's racing heart and her breathing calmed him. Soothed him. Just as her voice did as she spoke to him. The pressure of the couch against his back and Kara squeezing him where his arms was almost as effective as his jacket. It put pressure against him and kept him from shaking and forced his heart to calm its frantic beating. 

“I've got you. I won't let anything happen to you. It's okay. I'm here.” His eyes started to close without his consent.

The panic attack having taken a lot out of him.

It was only Kara's soft voice in his ear promising to watch over him that finally had him falling asleep. 

Maybe they could talk about his theories later.

**End Part 6**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did something very different with Carter's POV as well as his character in general. Please keep in mind any medical information I use or symptoms and remedies were found online. I mean no disrespect to anyone with this chapter and hope it hasn't offended anyone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle between Kara's Inner selves has just begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the reviews and follows. They mean a lot. I'm very glad that the last chapter resonated with a lot of you and that you enjoyed it the most out of the story. It was very fun to write.
> 
> For this chapter, it is the smallest chapter I have but that is because it was originally almost 13k words, so I cut the chapter where it made the most sense. Chapter 8 will be HUGE in comparison and probably my favorite chapter to date (now that I've written it and that's saying A LOT because I LOVED writing chapter 6). I hope that you'll enjoy none the less. I should have Chapter 8 posted in the middle of the week/before the weekend (if I have enough time to finish Chapter 9).
> 
> Again, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

 

* * *

**Part 7**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Who are you?" Kara heard the snooty tone in Siobhan's voice even from James' office. Why should she care if Siobhan was nasty to Cat's guests? It wasn't her concern anymore.

There was something pressing against the conscious part of Kara's brain, it was pushing its way past the red haze that was encompassing her. It was almost like a tangible thing. It's persistence as annoying as the meddling of her supposed friends.

If Cat wanted to hire Siobhan Smythe to replace her, let her. She was on to bigger and better things. She was leaving this office, this job, hell this CITY to its own devices. Let the populace see how right Maxwell Lord was: they became too complacent with her around. They, the citizens of National City, expected her to do everything for them. They expected her to constantly save them, put her life on hold for them. And what thanks did she get? People like Maxwell Lord and General Lane trying to kill her. People like Cat Grant trying to 'unmask' her secret identity and making her FEEL things that were obviously just childish naive emotions.

Well fuck them all. She was done.

Done with Alex and Hank's rules.

Done with James constantly comparing her to Kal.

Done with Winn making her feel guilty for not returning his romantics feelings.

She was done being this city's perfect superhero.

She was done spending another second caring for Cat Grant!

"You're as bad as Alex and Hank. With their rules and regulations and expectations!" Kara felt that persistent entity in her subconscious pushing itself forward with a startling ferocity. It would not be ignored as it bulldozed past the wall between the subconscious and conscious part of Kara's chemically imbalanced brain. It was causing her a great deal of discomfort, her head feeling as if it were going to split open.

"I'm finished listening to…"

"I'm…" _Carter Grant_.

Kara's eyes shot towards Cat's office, tilting her head so she could stare right through the stone pillar that blocked the area between James' office and Cat's.

That persistent knowledge clawed its way to the forefront of Kara's mind and refused to be turned away. The extreme protectiveness, compassion, and possessiveness over Carter Grant settled smack dab in the center of Kara's misfiring synapses and demanded recognition.

Suddenly Kara was moving without thought. She swatted Lucy out of her way as if she were a pestering wasp.

The rage that was simmering inside Kara finally boiled over as she heard Carter gasp and watched with her enhanced vision as Siobhan grabbed Carter's shoulder. The fingers of the woman's hand elegant and yet firm in the way they closed one after the other until the tips of her fingers were digging into Carter, keeping him still.

The sound of shattering glass startled many in the bullpen and forced them to watch as Kara stalked across the office at a nearly inhuman speed.

The red haze was furious with Siobhan. The nitwit was touching one of her claimed humans. HER human! She was being rude and hurting Carter Grant. That was unacceptable.

Cat Grant may have decided that Kara wasn't worth her time but Carter was still someone Kara cared for. He was still the same boy who was excited to see her and talk to her whenever he got the chance. He believed in her, saw her for who she was, and he meant a great deal to Kara, infected or not. Carter Would always be someone she would do anything for. Just as his mother _had_ been.

"What are you doing here?"

Kara could hear the way that Carter's heart thumped three times and then his lungs stopped taking in air. It spurred her on as she practically ran the last twenty feet to her desk. Carter was holding a cardboard cup holder with two drinks. Hot chocolate if the aroma was anything to go by.

"Where is your mother, father, a guardian?" The obvious lack of attention to detail was apparent if Siobhan didn't know who Carter Grant was and why he had more of a right to be in this office than she did. "Do you speak English? Do you speak at all?"

Carter's face was turning red the longer he didn't breathe.

Kara was two steps away now. All eyes in the office on her and the scene Siobhan was making outside Cat's office.

Kara saw red when she saw the way Carter was trembling. These people knew him! They knew that he had a severe anxiety disorder. They knew he couldn't be touched like this! They knew! And they did nothing!

Everyone who read the tabloids knew that Carter had Asperger's, with a hefty dose of savant syndrome. The story had been broken by a two-bit hack with no sense of integrity when Carter was first diagnosed. That same hack now worked three-part time low paying jobs because he'd been immediately black listed by Perry White, Lois Lane, (who'd written a spectacular editorial piece defending Cat and crucifying the former wannabe journalist) and Miranda Priestly; Cat hadn't even needed to lift a finger.

These idiots, the lot of them, knew who Carter was. But they said nothing. They ignored his obvious discomfort and continued on because they only cared about themselves!

Kara wanted to burn them all. See how they fared against her wrath, her true Kryptonian wrath. Not the meek wrath of Kara Danvers but of Kara Zor-EL.

"Carter!" Kara spoke the boy's name but her eyes glared at Siobhan, who at least had the decency to appear frightened. Yet, she hid the fear as quickly as she could.

"There you are. This kid was trying to get into Cat's office. I was just bringing him to security. Figures he'd be here for you."

"Remove your hand from him, now!" Kara had to keep her hands at her side lest she grab Siobhan's hand and jolt Carter more.

Kara heard the cardboard slip from Carter's fingers and watched in the corner of her eye as the two cups of hot chocolate hit the floor and splashed all up against Carter's leg. He didn't even twitch. He also hadn't turned his head to acknowledge her presence. His shoulders were tense and ridged.

"You know who he is?"

Kara rolled her eyes. Of course she knew who he was.

"I said let him go!" Kara felt as if she were going to begin to panic if Siobhan did not remove her hand from Carter's shoulder. The boy wasn't breathing. He didn't react to the searing pain of hot liquid splashing against him and he was losing color faster than Kara could reach out and grab Siobhan's thumb and pull back on it.

She just needed to get her off of him. Siobhan had no right to touch him!

The sound of the bone in Siobhan's finger breaking was almost overshadowed by her scream of pain. Almost. A buried part of Kara that hadn't seen the light of day in the last 48 hours cringed and felt sick at the sound. The part of Kara that was currently in control preened at the sound, and the desire to break more bones took hold.

"You…ugh…you broke my finger!"

Yes, she had. But it worked. Siobhan withdrew her hand and stumbled away from Kara with wide, pained eyes. Her hand now cradled protectively against her chest as she turned half away from Kara, tears spilling. Yet, Kara didn't care.

"You bitch, you bitch."

Kara was already tuning Siobhan out as she made her way to Carter's side.

James arrived, like he always did, and touched Siobhan's arm trying to console the injured woman. His eyes flicking back and forth between Kara and back to Siobhan. The disbelief clear in his eyes as he was forced to focus on Siobhan as the woman started yelling curses at Kara. None of which even seemed to phase Kara.

"Carter…" Kara kneeled down in the puddle of hot liquid, bending low so that she had to look up into Carter's eyes. Tears were falling rapidly down his cheeks and Kara almost wished she could break Siobhan's other fingers as well. "Carter…breathe. Please, breathe…" Kara whispered. She ached to touch him and console him, but she knew better than to touch him without his permission. Siobhan should have known better! Stupid bitch.

The idiot was still screeching at her, the sound of her voice like nails on a chalk board.

"Let's get you some ice for that hand, okay. Why don't we just come away from them and get that looked at." James tried to steer Siobhan away from the office, looking towards his office, hoping Winn or Lucy would show up soon, as he needed someone to stay with Siobhan and someone to stay with Kara and Carter.

Though, he was truly surprised to see how gentle and caring Kara was being with Carter. He'd expected…well he wasn't sure what he had expected, but Kara breaking Siobhan's finger and comforting Carter Grant wasn't it.

"God, what is wrong with you!? What…Olsen, get off me. Let me go. Did you see what she did. Jesus Christ…Kara you're crazy. Psychotic!"

Kara shot her eyes towards James the intensity swirling in her gaze captivating him. "James, shut her up. Or I will." The threat was clear, and even Siobhan understood that Kara was unhinged and she would shut her up one way or another. The girl squeaked and took several steps away from the area; hoping distance would keep her safe.

With Siobhan and James several feet away from them, Kara focused her attention solely on Carter. He was the only one here that mattered. "Carter, breathe. Take a deep breath in. Please. It's okay. I'm here. I've got you. I won't let anything happen to you. I'll protect you. Just breathe for me. Take a deep breath in for me. Focus on my voice. Focus on me. Only me…."

He listened to her instructions but before it could do him any good he started to hyperventilate. Sighing with a bit of frustration Kara glanced over at Siobhan for a brief moment, and contemplated throwing her off of Cat's balcony. That thought wouldn't be the worst in the world. It wasn't like she would take her time torturing the woman. Just a quick death. Right over the edge and a straight shot down to the bottom.

Kara stopped thinking about the many ways in which Siobhan could reach her demise and instead began going over how she could help Carter calm down. He was panicking. His heart was racing against his chest and causing his blood to pump too fast through his system. It would throw him into shock soon.

"Carter. I'm going to pick you up. Okay? I won't hurt you."

At his nod, Kara lifted him up into her arms effortlessly. He weighed next to nothing compared to what she could bench press. However, if she were conscious of hiding her secret she should have had a lot more trouble picking him up than she did. But she didn't care about her secret or how many of these people watching her figured it out. Let them. They'd see just how dangerous she could be. If she had to kill everyone on this floor, besides Carter, to keep her secret, well she was more than just considering it.

"Kara…Kara wait." James followed them into the office, stumbling in his effort to run after them. He was probably afraid she was going to fly off with Carter, and a part of her wanted to. She wanted to take him away from all of this noise and unneeded pressures and just keep him safe. Instead, she stayed. She settled them next to the couch on the balcony and she ripped her dress so she could move more easily. The dress cost almost two grand and she didn't care. Carter's comfort was worth far more.

The tears falling down Carter's cheeks tore at Kara's heart. The constant fog surrounding her thoughts and filling her body with its poison tried to counter effect the emotions swirling around her, but it was failing. It couldn't change Kara's opinion of Carter and couldn't make her be frustrated with him or disgusted by his behavior. But it was trying.

The virus inside Kara recognized a threat when it saw one and Carter Grant was its biggest threat so far. Carter Grant was one person its host would do anything for. The attachment the host had to the boy couldn't be broken. Just like its attachment to its friends, sister, and Cat Grant could only be changed. The depth of its emotions remained the same the virus just twisted those deep feelings and turned them into something else. The love she had for her friends and family became anger and resentment; the romantic love she held for Cat Grant was turned into frustration, and pain. The pain of her heartbreak over Cat Grant's lack of trust was easy to manipulate and turn into a desire for vengeance.

Yet of them all Carter was different. There was a primal ' _maternal_ ' instinct that not even this virus could overcome. It was similar to the feelings its host felt for Cat, in the sense that Kara's emotions were so deeply rooted in who she was for Cat and Carter Grant that any real threat to their wellbeing overpowered the virus.

The best way to regain control of its host was to bring it away from all of these antibodies. Yet, the virus had little control over Kara's movements now as she focused on calm the young boy.

Kara's heart chipped as Carter wiped his cheeks and under his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to clean away the tears. But they kept coming and his breathing remained frantic.

"I'm going to help you calm down okay…."

Carter nodded his head and followed each of her directions as she helped him wrap his arms around himself and directed them both towards the couch. Once he was settled against her, she whispered to him about the things she'd learned about tree frogs—his previous obsession—as well as historical facts that she was sure would interest him as he'd been obsessed with the American Presidency two months ago. She'd gotten him a pack of playing cards with the presidents of the United States on them, a collectible that she teased him they'd have to break in with a game of poker or gin.

Even knowing Carter had fallen asleep Kara continued to whisper to him. Her grip only eased every few minutes so his system wouldn't go back into shock. "I'll keep you safe, Carter. I promise." Even if that meant from herself.

By the time Carter fell asleep against her, Kara too had begun to calm down and feel more like herself than she had in the last few days. She knew something was wrong, she was suddenly very conscious of her changed attitude, actions, and thoughts. What she couldn't do was voice her concerns or change the things she was doing. It was like she was the passenger inside a car and the driver was doing whatever they wanted when they wanted without heeding her directions. Except it wasn't a car they were driving, but Kara's body.

Kara didn't understand why she was suddenly split in two, a small part of her conscious aware of these strange actions, while the larger part tried to beat her down into submission. There were two separate parts of her waging war inside her head and Kara was fighting to make sure the good side of her won. What she did understand was the need to get help, but without control of her body she had no way of asking for it. She just hoped that her friends could figure this out, and soon. The things she was thinking of doing were becoming crazier and crazier.

The scent of Carter's shampoo and the easy inhales and exhales of his body soothed away a lot of Kara's anger and desire for vengeance and destruction. Carter was okay. He was safe and even the two split sides of Kara could agree on Carter's wellbeing. The one side of Kara saw Carter as himself and someone she cared about, while the other claimed him like he was a pet to be watched over rather than a human being to be soothed and protected.

The battle between her inner selves was still being fought even as her eyes drifted closed and she joined Carter in slumber.

As she slept the red glow of her veins sparked to life as the virus fought for full control of it's host.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"How's that ice doing?" James asked as he took a seat next to Siobhan.

Lucy was sitting in Cat's office on the couch, eyes riveted on the balcony. They'd decided it was best that Lucy be the one to stand watch over Carter and Kara since Kara seemed less angry with her than Winn and James.

Lucy told them that Alex promised she would be there as soon as she could but the DEO had a containment breech, the scientist they'd apprehended the night before had broken through their security system. They were on lock-down till they recaptured the last three aliens. Clark hadn't answered James, but with the news of a tsunami hitting Japan and the Justice League on site James figured it would be a while before he made it to National City.

"How do you think it's doing? The stupid bitch broke my finger." Siobhan growled as she lifted the ice pack and stared down at the swollen digit.

"I'm sure she didn't mean to break your finger. She was just…"

"Oh save the excuses. You've said them all at least four times already. I don't care what she thought she was doing. I can press charges against her in a second." In any other circumstance she would have snapped her fingers together but her thumb was out of commission for the foreseeable future.

Siobhan could issue her own threats, just like Kara, and she wasn't afraid to go through with them. At the first threat she'd issued James quieted down.

Lucy's ears perked up and she and James shared a look before they each turned back to their respective charges. Lucy would make sure anything Siobhan threw at Kara went away faster than Siobhan could say Cat Grant.

"Who is that brat anyway?" Siobhan asked with a snide tone. "He didn't say his name and neither did she. Is he her brother or something?" Siobhan asked because Kara was too young for him to be her son.

"No. He's not her brother."

"Figures." Siobhan shook her head. "I might have been able to get over this if it'd been her brother. Maybe." But probably not. "What does he have?"

James eyebrow raised in a silent question. Siobhan rolled her eyes. "The brat. What's he diagnosed with? Has to be something. Normal people don't react like that to being asked questions."

"Or touched." Winn spoke up from his desk chair. One of them had to be doing their jobs when Cat arrived.

"What was that?" Siobhan asked, unable to discern what Winn had mumbled.

Winn turned around in his chair to face James and Siobhan. "It was because you touched him from behind."

"Ohhhkay..."

James shook his head. Siobhan didn't deserve to have her finger broken but she certainly wasn't the nicest or warmest person he'd ever met. Truthfully the longer he spent with her the more he understood why Kara did what she did. They were lucky she hadn't crushed the finger or ripped it off. She'd ONLY broken it, and the knowledge that she could have done much worse weighed heavily on all their shoulders.

"My question still stands! Can one of you just give me a straight answer? I've worked here for two weeks and getting straight answers out of anyone is nearly impossible. I can't do my job if people don't tell me the facts or what I need to know to do or NOT to do!"

Winn had the decent to at least wince at the obvious stress Siobhan was under. He supposed she was right; they hadn't been very welcoming or helpful in helping her situate. But they'd all been a little distracted with other things.

"I understand that everyone likes Kara better. You're all her friends. She seemed nice, you know until she lost her mind and broke my finger, but she's leaving. She won't be here anymore to protect or side with. And I'll need your help! I can't do this job like her if I don't have the support of the art department, legal, and IT."

Winn's head shot up from where he'd been staring at the floor at Siobhan's comment. "Kara's leaving?! Wha-where is she going?"

James echoed his question and Siobhan rolled her eyes. It figured _THAT_ was what they took from what she was saying.

"You know what. Forget it. I'll figure everything out on my own. Like which special needs children I can and cannot talk to." Winn opened his mouth and Siobhan snapped at him. " _Or touch_!" She snarled at the man, wincing as she moved the ice pack and disturbed her broken finger.

"No. I think you won't."

**End Part Seven**


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat's arrival at CatCo triggers an unexpected unfolding of events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to take the time to thank those that have been reading this story. I appreciate the feedback in all forms, follows, favorites, reviews and views. I also wanted to explain that this whole story stemmed from a single imagined scene between Kara/Carter/Siobhan which was seen in the previous two chapters, and the scene that you will see in this chapter as well.
> 
> With that said, I hope that you'll enjoy. If you don't, thank you for reading this far and perhaps you'll read the other ideas I have for this couple sure to come as I can write them. For this story, there should only be another two (possibly three) chapters left for this story.

 

* * *

**Part 8**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"No. I think you won't."

All three employees froze at the glacial voice sounding from behind them. They all turned to see Cat Grant standing behind them as if in a sitcom skit.

Her eyes were narrowed and lips pursed in silent rage. Her arms were stiff at her side, hands curled into right fists. Her hair was a little out of place and her cheeks flushed, the color on her face could have been from the anger. But it wasn't. It was from how she'd jumped out of her town car when they got caught in traffic six blocks from the office. She'd run six city blocks in four inch heels, her phone and purse forgotten in her car. She'd put Winn's call to voicemail because she'd been talking to a board member. So she'd only gotten his message about Carter being at the office and needing her after the fifteen-minute call. Then it'd taken seconds for her to tell David to turn around and get her to the office as soon as possible.

The obvious nerves and fear in Winn's voice in the message hadn't assured her of anything and made her heart race dangerously against her chest. Her boy needed her and she was stuck in traffic!? No. She'd have run the whole way back if it meant she got to Carter a second faster than if she'd taken the car.

Cat was already on edge before she'd even stepped off the elevator, but to come to her office and hear her assistant insulting her son...learning that she was the reason her child was in distress? That was the girl's final mistake here. Cat would answer her own phones for eternity if it meant she wouldn't have to look at Siobhan Smythe one more moment.

"Ms. Grant..." Siobhan and Winn jumped up quickly while James slowly stood from his seat, the mastered image of calm in the face of danger exuded from his lax response to Cat's appearance.

"I-ah I can explain."

"Save it. I can't stomach looking at you for another second." Cat started walking around the congregated group. Her eyes taking note of the ice pack held against the brunette's hand. "You're fired. Pack your things and go. Security will be here shortly to collect you." Cat didn't even look at the girl as she fired her. Instead she was staring into her office where Lucy was seated on the couch, eyes trained on the balcony. When Cat didn't see Carter in the office she directed her gaze towards the balcony but from where she stood she couldn't see if Carter was out there.

And where exactly was Kiera?! Carter needed Cat but the least Kiera could do was help her son while she could not. Had what Cat said to her truly hurt the girl so much that she wouldn't help Carter? No. Kiera wasn't like that. She wouldn't let Carter suffer, period; let alone let him suffer because she wanted to hurt Cat.

"You can't fire me! I'll-Ill sue you! Starting with that bitch Kara!"

Cat stopped her stride into her office towards the balcony. Siobhan had followed her into the office, James and Winn slowly slipping in behind the crazy woman. Lucy stood from her seat at this point.

"Lower your voice would you?! She just got Carter to calm down!" Lucy hissed harshly to keep what she was saying firm even if the sound was low.

Cat picked up on the information Lucy supplied easily. Things started to click. With each puzzle piece that slid home Siobhan's fate was further sealed.

"I don't care if the Daily Planet hears me! I was assaulted in the workplace and I'm being unjustly fired!"

"Your employment is at will. You signed a contract where you could be let go without cause until you passed the six-month probationary period." Cat recited easily, she didn't have time for this. But if getting this woman out of her office meant she could see her son sooner, she'd do it. "James. Call security. Tell them to escort Ms. Smythe from the premises."

"You're firing me for touching some kid when that bitch broke my finger!"

' _That bitch...hmm now who could she be referring to?'_ Cat looked at Lucy with a raised brow. The baby Lane had military training, extensive training but Cat didn't think she was that loyal.

Lucy saw the look and shook her head minutely, her eyes directing Cat towards the balcony where the "she" Lucy had referred to was outside keeping her son calm.

"Kara?!" Cat exclaimed in shock as she looked to Siobhan. "Kiera broke your finger?"

"Damn right she did. She's going to pay for this. So are you!"

Lucy glared at Siobhan and took a step forward but was beaten to the punch of defending Kara when Cat stalked across the small distance between her and Siobhan.

"Listen here you sniveling incompetent peon. The second you issue any suits against this company or Kara you'll be hit with so many counter suits your head will spin. Now, I suggest that you vacate these premises with a bit of dignity. And if I hear so much as a whisper of your name you'll wish I'd thrown you off my balcony instead of letting you walk out of here." Cat watched Siobhan swallow fearfully. With a wicked curl of her lips Cat leaned forward so she could whisper into the brunette's ear. Better that no one heard this next part.

"If you so much as pass Kara or my son on the street and look at her the wrong way I'll drag you through a hell no one can imagine or adequately summarize. Do you understand me?" Cat slowly leaned back when she saw Siobhan falter for only a moment before rapidly nodding her head. "Good. Now get out."

Siobhan had the common sense to leave while she was ahead. Cat never looked back at her; instead she turned to the three stooges who each looked guilty of something. What that something was, she would have to find out later. Carter needed her.

The only reason she hadn't just run outside to him was Lucy's comment about Kara taking care of him. Cat felt guilty for thinking, for even a second, that Kara wouldn't look after Carter because she was angry at her. That wasn't the type of person Kara was.

If Kara were like the Siobhan Smythe's of the world Cat never would have developed feelings for the younger woman. Kara was honest and pure, even when she was lying straight to Cat's face. Kara saw goodness in everyone and everything. She strove to do better, be better, and brought with her an energy that had been lacking in Cat's life for many years. Kara loved life, she loved people and Cat…well maybe Cat came to love Kara's love for everyone. Or maybe she just came to love Kara. Either way, her stomach was in knots with her worry over Carter and her abysmal treatment of the one person she cared for above (almost) all others.

"I'll speak with each of you later."

"Ms. Grant, we're just going to stay in here okay?" James said slowly, as if he couldn't decide if it were a question or a statement he was saying.

"I would like some time alone with my son."

"Ms. Grant…" Lucy cringed as she looked at James and Winn before focusing on Cat, how exactly could they explain that they weren't sure Kara was safe to be around anyone except Carter. "Kara's not…herself." Even to her ears that sounded terrible.

"Yes, of course she's not herself. She quit this afternoon."

"She quit? I thought Siobhan was just lying about that." Winn didn't know who to look at as he just reiterated what Cat said and expressed his shock over the confirmed information.

"The girl has lost her mind."

"Yet she was sane enough to take care of your son in his moment of need." Lucy pointed out, making sure someone said what they were all thinking.

Cat almost let her mask slip. _Almost_. It took extraordinary effort to keep it in place knowing that Kara had taken care of her son when he was distressed. Knowing that she broke someone's finger to protect her son. A bit extreme and yet Cat knew Kara would not have done it unless she needed to. That she needed to at all made Cat nauseous.

"I will be sure to thank her for that." The softness in her voice seemed to startle the trio and Lucy appeared appeased at her promise.

"Good. We'll be right in here. Just in case."

Cat wanted to ask just in case _what_ , but her need to see her son overcame her journalistic curiosity. Let them stay where they would. They'd just sneak back in if she waited for them to leave.

Stepping out onto her balcony Cat was greeted to a sight that caused warmth to sweep through her body emanating from her heart. The sight of Carter snuggled up against Kara and the young woman holding her son close was one Cat wished she could forever immortalize with a photo, but her phone was still in her town car.

Cat reached blindly behind her to close the doors to her office. If the trio were going to watch they would have to do without sound.

As Cat rounded the corner of the couch she felt the warmth that had spread throughout her veins turn cold. There was a strange glow emanating from Kara's skin. It almost looked like it was moving beneath the tissue. Cat gasped and took a step forward to touch Kara. She obviously needed help. There was something abnormal, even for an alien, happening here.

"Kara...!" Cat touched Kara's shoulder and had barely shook the woman more than an inch when her eyes snapped open. There was a bright red glow to her eyes for several seconds that cleared the further to full consciousness she came.

"Kara, wake up!" Cat looked up and over the edge of the couch towards her office where she saw the three stooges taking amongst themselves. She cursed herself for closing the door because even if she were to call out to them they wouldn't hear her, the glass sound proof.

When Cat looked back at Kara her eyes were no longer glowing and her skin wasn't generating its own fluorescent glow.

"Ms. Grant..." For a moment there was openness and affection in Kara's beautiful eyes-even with their red lining around the pupil.

"Kara..." Cat breathed her name softly her lips pulled into a soft smile.

Then Cat watched as something changed in Kara. The look in her eyes hardened and the smile on her lips slowly formed a sneer. The transformation took only a moment and yet it felt like a lifetime of watching Kara slip right through her fingers. Her Kara, who always had a waiting smile for her, not this sneering imposter before her. The fact that in any other circumstances Cat would have to admit that she'd gone too far and hurt Kara seemed to be lost to her as she focused instead on how there was something wrong with Kara.

"We should go inside." So they could talk with the three amigos about what they had planned to help Kara. This...whatever it was...must have been why they'd insisted they stay. But Kara wasn't dangerous or they wouldn't have left Carter with her. So it must not be contagious either. Which was good to know since her son was snuggled up to Kara like a koala.

"You're right. I should be leaving. Days almost over." Kara looked out towards the cityscape and the sun making its way back down towards the horizon casting a warm orange and pink hue through the sky.

"That's…that's why we need to go inside. We need to speak about your decision to leave."

Kara looked away from the sunset, the colors shadowing behind Cat, the scene straight from a romantic drama. "You won't change my mind."

"No, I'm sure I won't be able to. But I'd like to speak with you anyway. Perhaps it's not about changing your mind."

Kara chuckled mirthlessly, "What could it be about then? Hmm…?" Her eyes dared Cat to say anything, almost begging the woman to admit that she wanted to talk about one of the million and one reasons why she needed Kara, or maybe that she was sorry; for everything.

"Kara?" Carter's groggy voice broke the stare the two women were caught in. They each turned to look at Carter as he lifted one of his hands to his eyes to wipe the sleep away. Kara's eyes softened as she looked at Carter. The obvious care remained unlike how it had disappeared when looking at Cat.

"Mom?!" Carter's voice picked up in emotion as his eyes caught sight of his mother kneeling in front of the couch. He felt tears prick at the corner of his eyes, the relief at seeing his mother overwhelming. He hiccupped a breath as he struggled to stand up to get to her.

Kara, sensing his urgency lifted him up and deposited him on the floor right in front of the couch. Once his feet were on the ground he launched himself at his mom and wrapped his arms tightly around her, hiding his face against her shirt.

"Oh Carter, my boy, my beautiful boy. I'm here. I've got you." Cat wrapped her arms around him and soothed him with nonsensical words as she stroked her hand through his hair and rubbed the other against his back, squeezing him just as tight as he squeezed her. She bent down a bit to rest her head on the crown of Carter's head, her eyes closed as she breathed him in and did what she could to reassure him that she was there. She would find out from him what happened later. For now, she just needed to reassure herself that he was okay, and he needed to know she was there for him.

The energy inside of Kara was like a living thing. Yet it only became sentiment in a way all viruses can: it was only because of its attachment to a host that it thrived and lived at all. Otherwise it was just energy, thermal radioactive energy that's components only harmed those from Krypton. The element X of Kara's blood filtered this energy into its own form but it was young and docile at first. But like all viruses it evolved and grew. with its growth came its control and its need for full control over the host it inhabited rather than coexistence. With self-awareness came desires and its desire was to live and grow stronger. To do that it needed to attack Kara from within. Change her. Mold her to its liking. It started slowly but with its growth it wanted more from Kara.

It was time to start getting it.

Kara sat on the couch watching the scene for a moment, a skip in her heart making her head pound unceasingly. The pain in her head however moved and seemed to settle within her stomach, the pain emanating from the same location she'd been struck by the rouge soldier's weapon.

Her eyes glowed brighter and brighter like a power surge. Then it waned, dimming slowly, and yet the pain remained.

Cat opened her eyes and saw Kara sitting on the couch, blinking her eyes rapidly as if to ear them of dirt.

With tears in her eyes and no voice to truly vocalize how thankful she was for what Kara had done she mouthed the words, 'Thank you.'

It seemed her gratitude had some kind of reaction as Kara sprang up from the couch like a frightened animal.

Kara turned away from them. The girl's hands were tight as she held onto the edge of the couch cushions, the muscles in her arms rippling as her jaw flexed. When Kara finally turned back to them her eyes were lidded and she appeared a bit out of breath.

"Kara…?" Cat asked gently.

Kara put as much distance between herself and the Grants as she could, moving to stand in the corner of the balcony.

Her head and heart were pounding in tandem, the pain spreading from her sinuses and from her lower abdomen to meet somewhere in the midst of her chest cavity. She grasped at the silk of her dress and wanted to claw her fingernails into her chest to make the pain stop. It was like she was being consumed from the inside out.

Cat slowly put herself in front of Carter, her arm holding his shoulder to keep him situated somewhat behind her as she eyed Kara wearily. Her eyes flickered towards the doors to her office where she saw Lucy sitting on the couch talking on her cellphone. James and Winn were crowded over Winn's laptop. Now if one of them would just look outside they'd easily be able to tell how uncomfortable Cat was, how the way she stood with Carter behind her was a protective, defensive stance. It was one she'd used with Kara herself when they were attacked by LiveWire.

And just for the hell of it, _why_ was it always CatCo employees that ended up with strange supernatural things happening to them? Cat was all for a good SciFi twist in any book, but this was real life. Where she would be happy to report in her many media outlets about these types of things she felt that perhaps there was a reason they always seemed to happen closer and closer to her. Was she just a magnet for them?

"Kara?" Cat took a tentative step towards the younger woman as she watched her groan and grab at her own chest, her head bowed as she moaned in obvious distress. That strange glow from before was beginning to aluminate beneath Kara's skin. It was visibly moving through her veins as if it were her actual blood. The streams of red light were moving outward and inward but seemed to be centering themselves in Kara's chest, right above where the young woman grabbed at herself as if she were suffering from a heart attack.

"Don't!" Kara groaned out as she started to crouch down as if to curl into a ball to keep the pain at bay. One of the hands that she'd been using to push against the pain shot out to stop Cat from coming any closer.

Cat gasped as Kara looked up at her, the girl's eyes were flickering from that abnormal red glow to her normal compassionate eyes, her face appearing sunken in around her cheekbones.

Carter peeked his head out from around his mother at the sound of her gasp. His eyes widened when he saw Kara's eyes and the strange glow coming from her skin.

"Mom?" He whispered, fear lacing the word as he grabbed at his mom's arm and tried to pull her back to him.

Cat turned her head slightly to the side to speak with Carter, too afraid to look away from Kara completely the fear stemming from the idea the girl would just up and disappear or suddenly snap and come charging at them.

"It's okay. She's going to be okay. Go inside and get James."

Kara growled, her eyes and skin suddenly brightening in their red illumination.

"Okay, not him." Cat stuck both of her hands out trying to appease the anger she saw literally radiating off of Kara.

Carter swallowed and felt his heart racing against his chest as he realized that the red rim around Kara's eyes was because she was sick. There was something wrong with her, there had been something wrong with her even as she was taking care of him. Carter relaxed at that realization. Even if Kara was sick she was still Kara. She had t hurt him and she wouldn't. She'd protected him and comforted him.

"Kara, it's okay. You're safe with us." Carter took three steps to the right, away from his mother and closer to the door to her office.

Cat didn't move from where she stood, every time she even shifted her weight Kara's eyes would focus on her and the glow would start to take hold again. For whatever reason when Kara was focused on Carter the anger dissipated, so although Cat was slow to let Carter make his way slowly back into the office to get them help, she was more afraid that by following him she'd trigger the vulnerable animal Kara appeared to be.

"He's right. You're safe with us. We won't let anything happen to you. We'll help you."

"I don't need help from you!" Kara's anger flashed up like a fury as she shot her gaze to Cat, her chest heaving and her mouth curved into an open snarl. "Why do I need help? Because I say what I'm thinking? I stick up for myself? What's so bad about that? Why can't I be confident and smart and flirtatious and not be judged!"

"Nothing's wrong with that! Those are all good things. Except flirtatious. That seems a little too adult for me to have an opinion on. But we don't want to help. Not to change you at least. We just, we want to stay with you. Stay with you and keep you safe. Right mom?" Carter asked as he looked at his mother and tried to keep himself calm.

This was important. This wasn't like before. This wasn't someone touching him without him knowing. This was him being a hero. Like Kara. Like Supergirl. He needed to help HIS superhero, because there was something wrong with her, even if she couldn't admit to it. All those good things that she'd mentioned wouldn't make her glow red or make her whimper in pain. So although outwardly it didn't look like this sickness was bad. It was. If it was hurting her they had to stop it.

"Right of course." Cat noticed that each time Kara looked at her Carter would take a half step closer to the doors, but she refused to focus on it. Instead she'd keep Kara's attention on her. Her son, the brave little genius, using Kara's distraction in his favor.

Kara watched him like a lion stalking its prey, her eyes watching every single movement he made as if hypnotized. The longer she stared at him the duller the glow seemed to become until it was just her eyes staring at him once again.

"Need Alex." Kara spit out between gritted teeth, her legs giving out as she sank to the stone balcony, both hands fisted against her collarbone.

"I'll get her. I promise." Carter wished he had his cellphone on him. He'd met Alex a few weeks ago on one of the afternoons that Kara picked him up from school and brought him to the office. They'd stopped to get coffee for his mom and hot chocolate for him. Alex had been there and although she was stiff when she was introduced to him, he was pretty sure he won her over with how much he knew about organic chemistry. He'd learned that she was an FBI agent and she'd given him her number and told him that if he ever got into trouble he could call her and she'd be there.

"We don't want anything to happen to you Kara. We…we care…" Carter swallowed, feeling his cheeks flush as he forced himself to meet Kara's eyes, "We love you." Carter didn't talk about his feelings often and the only person he had ever told he loved them was his mom. He hadn't even said it to his father. It was hard for him but he needed Kara to know that he didn't just care about her, it was more than that. She was more than that to him. "And when you care about someone, you take care of them no matter what."

Cat felt tears sting in her eyes at her son's admission. She knew that Carter and Kara spoke through text messages and that her son had a bit of a crush on the girl, but she never thought he'd ever verbalize his feelings and that instead of just 'liking' Kara he would admit to loving her. Carter admired Kara. The two of them fit together so easily that sometimes Cat was jealous. Sometimes she'd look at the two goofballs as they gushed about one topic or another and she'd see the way they brought out a light in each other and any jealous thought was replaced with gratitude and longing to share in those moments.

"You're important to us." Carter declared, including his mother in the admission.

"Just to you. Your mom doesn't need me. She doesn't care about me. She just cares about herself."

Cat cringed at the resentment lacing each of Kara's words. A true heart felt sorrow was hidden in each of the statements. For a moment that sorrow flashed across Kara's face and it wasn't whatever was wrong with her, but _KARA_ …and she looked broken and so _so_ tired. But she was only there for a half a second before she disappeared again.

"That's not true!" Carter vehemently denied. "Mom does need you. You're important to her!"

Kara's gaze slipped away from Carter and moved to Cat. The need to believe what Carter was saying was like a tangible thing that filled Kara's heart with hope. Hope that was desperately trying to corral the virus that filled her body and expel it. The pain was unbearable but there were worse pains.

Kara needed to gain control of herself again. This pain was excruciating and it was spreading.

Cat and Carter were threats. They called to Kara's base instincts and empowered her with strength and will that kept the virus from gaining full control.

No matter. They were targets. They would meet their ends soon enough and it would hold control over this powerhouse of a host.

It was now or never, Cat realized as Carter and Kara looked at her expecting her to either admit to her need for Kara, her feelings for her, or deny them.

"It's true…" Cat cleared her throat when her voice caught. "I do need you. I do… _care…_ about you. I, I always have."

From the day the girl walked into her office with a cup filled with water and two Advil waiting in her palm after a particularly trying day, Cat knew. Cat had never had to ask, had never previously asked an assistant for medicine, and yet Kara walked into her office with water and medicine, and came back twenty minutes later with a cup of M&Ms "because they always make me feel better".

Cat had sneered and made a comment about the use of chocolate being a childish response and a dangerous one for her complexion. Yet the next day she'd started having her bar stocked with M&Ms for rough days. Kara never commented on it, though Cat noticed the glint of mirth in the girl's eyes whenever she poured her a glass of M&Ms instead of alcohol. Kara was always there to offer Cat a smile, support, and she did it because she wanted to, not because it was her job. Kara talked to her son and made him feel normal and she did so with affection. Kara wanted what was best for Cat and fought for what she thought was best only when it came to her. Kara fought for Cat every day and all Cat had done was fight her feelings for Kara.

Kara cared, truly cared, for Cat and Cat was helpless to stop herself from caring for her in return. Kara's sunny personality was like a fungus, it grew on any surface and overwhelmed until it consumed everything in its path whether you wanted it to or not.

Pushing Kara away the last few weeks was one of the hardest things Cat had to do, but what alternative did she have? Kara dated her son, broke his heart—though he was being a little overdramatic because they'd only gone out on two dates—Cat knew the affect Kara could have on people, mostly because she was an acolyte of the Kara Danvers temple. Cat just refused to openly worship or admit defeat in her complete and utter devotion to the girl.

"You're lying!" Kara accused, slowly standing up from her crouch.

"No, no I'm not." Cat stood up straighter and held her shoulders back and exuded the confidence that she always did when dealing with business deals. She needed Kara to believe her, and she wouldn't let the girl accuse her of lying without defending herself.

Carter took a step back towards the wall of the balcony when Kara screamed at his mom. For her credit, Cat remained where she was and held Kara's angry gaze. The glow that was under her skin started to spread from just around her chest. It was moving to her shoulders and neck again.

"Kara, I have lied to many people, told stories of grandeur, but I have never lied to you. I may have misled you, and said things, or not said them, that I regret. But I have not lied to you." Cat took a tentative step towards Kara, stopping only when she saw Kara flinch and try and push herself against the wall of the building to get away. "Except that you look nothing like Supergirl. That was slightly more than a misleading comment but a lie told to reassure you and calm whatever panic you were having over the whole thing."

There was a warmth in Cat's chest that empowered her to continue on with her speech, taking another step closer to the cowering young woman who'd stolen her heart so long ago that it was like she'd never not held it. "I do not want you to leave. I do not want you to quit your job."

"Liar! You just want to keep me your bitch."

Cat ignored the biting words, though the mother in her wanted to remind Carter that such language was unacceptable. "I want you to stay. I want you to work here, to grow _here_ , to be _with me_ as you grow into the incredible woman you can be. Even more than you are now, and that may seem impossible. But you're good at making the impossible possible. You always have been."

Cat was only a few feet from Kara now.

"You don't trust me. You have no faith in me."

"You silly girl, of course I trust you! I trust you with more than you can ever imagine, Kara."

"You stopped." Kara whimpered turning in on herself again. Tears shinning in her eyes. The sight of them felt like claws scratching against the soft vulnerable tissue of Cat's heart.

"Stopped what?"

"Everything...! You stopped talking to me. You stopped… _caring_. You stopped when I needed you most! You have no idea what I was going through, how could you? You didn't let me in. You shut me out. You just tossed me away like I meant nothing!" Kara's jaw set and Cat realized this was spiraling away from her. "You say you care, but if you cared you wouldn't have done that. You wouldn't have hurt me."

What happened in the time she had shut Kara out that would affect the woman so much? She'd noticed the distant look in Kara's eyes. She'd wanted to reach out and speak with her, offer her an ear like she'd always done. She wanted to be the one to soothe the pain that had shadowed above Kara for the last few weeks. Her pride had stopped her, her fears had kept her still and made her push Kara away when her heart had just wanted to pull the girl closer.

"I was wrong, Kara. I was wrong to shut you out. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you. But that doesn't mean I don't care! It just means I was…foolish. I was prideful. Stubborn."

Kara sniffled as she cried, her hands grabbing at her hair and yanking on the golden strands as if she wanted to tear her own scalp off. She bent low once again and put her head between her knees as she yelled nothing but an anguished pain towards the stone beneath her.

Carter took a half step away from the railing of the balcony as if he wanted to go to Kara and comfort her. He stopped though when he saw his mother do the same thing but stop herself. He followed his mother's lead and stayed put.

"You...you hurt the people you love most when you're selfish and scared." Cat stuttered as she bit into her bottom lip and shifter her weight nervously. "I never meant to hurt you Kara. And I will spend however long it takes proving that forgiving me, giving me the chance to make things better between us...is worth it. If you'll let me." Cat cleared her throat as a lump formed. "Just stay. Don't leave CatCo. Don't leave me. We can work through this. All of it."

Kara felt something break within her chest as her eyes stared into Cat's piercing gaze. It was all she could have hoped for and more. Her feelings weren't childish or naive. There was something between her and Cat, she wasn't insane. Cat cared for her. Loved her. Cat Grant loved her, whether romantic or familial she didn't yet know, but Kara would be damned if she let anything happen to this chance to find out.

Kara yelled as her body trembled as the energy within her seemed to reach its boiling point. She forced her body to fight the infection, rejecting the intruder. It was a long and harrowing process and was taking far more out of Kara than any fight with Non and his followers ever had.

It was internal and the pain of forcing her own cells to reject the intruding energy was weakening her. If she didn't get this energy out now, she would be lost beneath the immense power of the 'virus'. The control lost once again to this foreign sub-entity inside her, pulling her own traits and possible personalities from her to form its own identity.

Kara was desperate to be released from its hold.

The sound of her struggle must have drawn the attention of those in Cat's office because suddenly there was movement towards the door.

Cat's eyes shifted seeing movement in the corner of her eye. She watched, silent and tense, as James stuck his head out of the open door to the office.

"There's someone coming to see Kara. They can help. They'll be here in a few minutes."

James noted Cat's worried gaze and followed her eyes to turn towards the other corner of the balcony. Kara was standing between the juncture of the building wall and the balcony railing, the air around her there was a haze of sparking energy with an ominous red glow.

"I don't need anyone's help! Especially his help!"

James put the stopper for the door down to keep it open, his movements slow and eyes upon his friend. "Get inside."

"I don't take orders from you!" Kara snapped, her chest was heaving and her hands were trembling at her side.

"Cat. Now." James never looked away from Kara as he spoke, he was moving towards Carter to grab him and bring him inside.

Cat knew this was the only chance she was going to have, though she hated that James came out when he did. She was so close! She had been so close, Kara was there. She'd seen her. She was finally reaching Kara, reaching her wherever it was that she was stuck inside herself.

The focal point of Kara's focus had been Cat and Carter. She had been using them as the weight that was grounding her, keeping her in control. The control rejection she'd worked towards was lost. She was expelling the energy through the very pores of her skin as if she were forcing a fever to burn it out. It was slow and tedious but it was working. The red haze that had formed around her was proof of the expulsion.

Kara was weak while it was strong. It would dispose of Cat and Carter Grant at the earliest opportunity. They were no longer allies but threats to its existence. The connection Kara held for them had the power to break the bonds the virus wanted within Kara. If they were killed, by Kara's own hand it would destroy Kara.

Cat and Carter were just collateral damage to It retraining its existence in this body.

Kara screamed as she slammed her back against the wall, the brick and metal denting and caving around her.

The virus' imagined visage smirked showing its teeth as it silently laughed at Kara. They would always be Kara's. They would just be hers in death as well as in life.

No! Kara screamed as she used every ounce of strength she retained to expel this wicked energy from her system. There was no gentle, slow expulsion. The need to be free was crucial.

The cloud of sparking red haze around Kara grew thicker and thicker till it was almost like a liquid smog. The sight of it getting brighter and brighter as the consistency changed.

With all the strength she had inside of her Kara forced her body to push the energy out. It was like learning how to control her senses after arriving on earth. How to keep herself from accidentally using her heat vision when she was angry. Or how to control how heavy her footfalls where as she walked, always gliding just a little to keep from breaking the cement everywhere she stepped. She knew the workings of her body better than anyone could know theirs. She needed to be able to control every aspect of herself and that included internally as well.

Pushing the energy out of her body wasn't easy and it hurt worse than anything she'd ever felt before, but she did it. She forced the energy out of her system and as it ripped out of her body it tore a scream from her lips.

The ejection of such powerful energy caused a concussion of pure destructive force to sweep in a 360-degree radius.

 

> The wall of the building behind Kara cracked and the glass windows for several floors above and below imploded at the energy the metal absorbed. The glass began raining down on the balcony but it was as if time itself slowed down for several heart wrenching moments.
> 
> The energy that Kara forced out of her body spread out like a ripple, expanding outward until it could deplete itself. The forward arch of the concussion released from Kara as the focal point headed straight for the three people she cared about.
> 
> Cat was hit first as she was standing the closest to Kara. She hardly had time to flinch before the energy wave crashed against her and threw her several feet in the air. She couldn't help the scream that tore itself from her lips as she flipped up into the air and came back around, her eyes seeing nothing beneath her but the seventy stories of air between her and the ground.
> 
> The second person hit was James. Glass sprayed like sharp rivets of water towards him as the opened glass door shattered moments before he was thrust backwards. He was standing with half his body still inside the building so when the wave rolled through him he went flying into the door jam. He hit the surface with enough force to knock him out upon impact.
> 
> Carter was the last person hit as he'd been standing the farthest away from Kara. Unlike James he was still out upon the balcony and had enough time to try and turn away from the oncoming blast. With his own momentum added to that of the blast he too was thrown up into the air like his mother and over the wall of the balcony by almost a yard. There was nothing beneath him but empty space.
> 
> The energy continued to spread out, breaking several windows of the buildings across the street from CatCo and to the right and left of it. The couches upon the balcony flipped even though they were bolted to the balcony floor, they pulled up a foot of stone each as they toppled to their side and skid across the balcony, hitting the balcony wall with enough force to crack it.

Time seemed unable to find it's normal fluidity as the seconds continued to pass though the relativity of the stretch of each second jumped from feeling like an eternity to moving as if being fast forwarded on an old VHS tape, time itself crackling around the edges as it puttered forward, froze, and then began to move onward once again. It was dizzying, nauseating and left those in the area scrounging to gain firm grasps on what was happening, the shock of it almost incapacitating them.  

 

> Kara fell to her knees panting. James fell upon the floor unconscious. Cat and Carter each began to fall downward.
> 
> Carter yelled out in fear as he began to plummet like a stone towards the ground.
> 
> Cat reached out with flailing arms and grasped onto the balcony railing that was just in reach and sight.
> 
> Kara attempted to stand but fell back upon her knees her stomach revolting at the pain within it.
> 
> Lucy and Winn stood up from where they'd been knocked over by the rumbling (unknown) force.
> 
> Carter frantically thought of ways to slow his decent. His experiments and research on flying suddenly helping him buy himself more time.
> 
> Cat's body swung with incredible speed and force into the balcony wall and knocked the air out of her lungs.
> 
> Lucy and Winn came running out of the building.
> 
> Kara's ears popped, the only sound in her ears the beating of her heart.
> 
> Cat turned and watched with horrifying eyes as Carter fell faster and faster to the ground.
> 
> James' head lulled forward to reveal a steady flow of blood spilling from a head wound.
> 
> Winn raced towards the railing.
> 
> Lucy dropped to the floor beside James' unconscious form.
> 
> Kara used the wall to stand up and slipped, but dug her fingers into the mesh of the wall to keep herself standing.
> 
> Carter took in a deep breath; afraid it would be his last.
> 
> Cat's grip slackened as she drew in a long breath of air.
> 
> Kara stared with unseeing eyes around her, her brain function slow to recognize what was happening; the stimuli of sound and sight overshadowed by the pain resonating through her shock wracked body.
> 
> Winn grabbed onto Cat's arm just before it slipped loose.
> 
> Lucy looked around her frantically for Carter. "Where's Carter?!"
> 
> Lucy's voice sounded distorted to Kara's ears (and everyone) as if sound wasn't moving correctly through the affected area yet.
> 
> Carter spread his arms and legs and tried to slow his decent.

"CARRRTTEERR!" Cat screamed Carter's name as she fought against Winn's grip. Unwilling to be rescued if it meant Carter wasn't.

Winn groaned as he leaned as far over the edge as he could and tried to gain his footing to pull Cat up. His eyes wide as he saw Carter, twenty floors below and still falling.

Carter closed his eyes and screamed with his (last) breath the name of the one person who could save him: "KARA!"

Then suddenly everything was happening too fast.

Kara came to full awareness. The sound of breaking glass finally reached people's ears. The sirens beneath them sounded. Lucy's whispers to James to try and wake him were soft and firm with the command that he wake up. Cat screeching like a banshee for Carter as Winn pulled her back over the ledge, his efforts causing Cat to fall directly on top of him. Cat scrambling up off of Winn, pushing her palms against his chest to launch herself towards the balcony and her boy. The sound of Kara's name being screamed in terror and hope, filtered into Kara's ear and within a millisecond she was off.

Hearing Carter's scream for Kara caused Cat to turn towards the wall where Kara had been standing, but she wasn't there. Then suddenly she was racing towards the wall of the balcony—which was cracked and dangerous—

"Kara…" Cat said the name almost hesitantly as she stared with wide eyes as Kara jumped off the metal of the railing like it were a diving board for an Olympic swimmer and she were merely diving into a pool instead of off an eighty story building from the seventieth floor.

"NOOO….!" Cat screamed in horror as she tried to grab the girl but Winn held her back. She elbowed the man in the ribs and stomped on his foot causing his arms to go slack. She raced towards the edge of the balcony, the brick grinding together along the cracks that were created at the added weight.

Cat watched as Kara closed her arms and legs together and practically shot downward like a bullet.

Kara heard her heart pounding in her chest as she pushed herself to fall faster, fly downward faster. She couldn't fly at Mach 2 if she wanted to safely catch Carter, the force of her grabbing him at that speed would break his neck. But she needed to fall faster. She needed to catch him. She needed to save him.

She'd never be able to live with herself if she couldn't save him.

"Carter! Reach upward!" Kara instructed as she stretched out her arms, knowing she'd need to grab him in her arms and change their trajectory to keep him from getting hurt. If she could just catch him, she could shift so she was the one to impact the ground, standing, with him in her arms. The force wouldn't kill him then and she'd brace him in her arms and absorb the inertia of hitting the ground. She could do this. She could!

She just needed to reach him!

He was twenty feet below her.  
Fifteen.  
Ten.

The ground was sixty feet beneath them.  
Fifty.  
Forty.

Kara realized in that heartbreaking moment as Carter looked up at her and tried to aerodynamically reach up towards her, that she wasn't going to reach him.

Kara saw the trust that he had in her. The faith that she could reach him, the unwavering belief that Kara could save him and keep him safe. Just like she promised she would. For that heart stopping moment she doubted she could be worthy of that trust. The ground was so close and she was still out of reach.

This was unacceptable.

She wouldn't fail him. She'd already done enough to him to last a lifetime. He deserved a lifetime to hate her for it or take that long to forgive her.

She picked up speed. Conscious of how fast she was going. Her plan would work. It would work. She just needed to reach him first!

"Kara…" Carter yelled out, the sound of the air rushing around him making it appear as if he'd just spoken her name rather than screamed it at her.

He felt a pit form in his stomach as the ground got closer and Kara hadn't reached him yet. There was a look of fear in her eyes that scared him and caused his eyelids to fall closed and hope…pray…and just long...to be in his mother's arms one more time.

He could practically feel the ground just beneath him when arms wrapped around his stomach and pulled him tight against a warm body.

Kara grabbed Carter, twisted them around twice as she tucked him against her body, turned her feet towards the ground, and landed with bending knees. Once her feet touched the floor they created a deep impact caving the concrete in before she pushed off with Carter snuggled against her, changing their direction to soar up into the air and back towards the balcony. Her head hidden behind Carter's as flashes flickered around them, people having recorded the entire event.

Cat fell to her knees as she watched Kara and Carter hit the ground. She choked on a wail that she didn't know could ever fully encompass the utter devastation radiating inside her like an atom bomb waiting to explode. Cat's hands slipped from the railing above her and she used them to cover her face and the tears that were streaming silently down her cheeks.

Winn felt his heart burst with sorrow at the sight, thinking for sure that Kara hadn't made it in time. He'd been too afraid to watch, too ashamed and guilt ridden. He never should have left Carter and Cat alone with Kara, not when they knew she was unstable. They just…they had no idea something like this could happen. Hell, Winn didn't even know for sure what _**had**_ happened. All he knew was that James had gotten a call from Clark and he would be in National City in ten minutes—that had been eight minutes ago. In eight minutes between then and now everything changed.

"Ms. Grant I…" Winn was going to apologize when from the other side of the balcony a blur of color passed him and within seconds Kara was standing there—dressed in her ripped and tattered dress—Carter snug against her.

Winn bent forward at the waist and sobbed his relief.

Kara panted as she released her hold on Carter, who immediately was swept up in Cat's arms. She pulled Carter against her and carried him into her office, stepping over James' legs and mindful of where Lucy was kneeling over her boyfriend even in her haste to get her son off the ledge and as far away from that terrible fall as she could.

Kara looked around the area and saw all the damage she had caused, saw Lucy holding her shirt balled up against James' head, Winn stared at her with fear, and Cat…Cat didn't even look at her at all. She'd run away from her the second she had her son back.

With sorrowful eyes Kara looked at Winn and Lucy. "I'm sorry…" She whispered, her voice cracking with emotion, stress, adreniline and an ample supply of cold fear. She would never be able to truly express how sorry she truly was.

Her head was spinning and her body felt numb. She stumbled towards the balcony edge, needing to get away. To escape the havoc, damage, and fear that she'd caused. Her chest was tight and her muscles ached something fierce. She was surprised she'd even been able to fly at all the way her body just…didn't feel quite right. She took a tentative step and felt her leg give out beneath her weight. The pain in her chest resonated nearly as strongly as that burst of energy had.

The balcony wall Kara was leaning on gave way against the additional weight and she fell off the ledge, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she started to lose consciousness as she fell. Her last conscious thought being that she hoped no one was beneath her or they'd be crushed.

"I've got you, cousin." The voice was familiar and the feeling of arms wrapping around her soothed her enough to finally lose all consciousness and slip into the dark.

**End Part Eight**


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The immediate reactions of Kara's destructive expulsion seen through the eyes of all those involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to read Good Girl Gone Bad. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to chapter 8 with their reactions. They were all incredibly welcome (and I may have squeed when I saw each notification in my inbox) but don't quote me on that. The next chapter should be up in the next few days and the epilogue up before or during next weekend. I will take the time to thank you for joining me on this fic once I get those chapters up. :-) But for now, I'll stop taking up your time so you can get to the actual reason why you opened the link. Chapter 9....

 

* * *

**Part 9**

Everything was in an uproar. His mother hadn't let him go for what felt like an eternity and yet it had only been a few minutes. She kept checking to make sure he was okay. He nodded and said a few words at first but then everything caught up with him and he'd gotten sick. His mom had grabbed the barrage bin and helped him to her bathroom after his stomach had seemed to settle down. There was glass everywhere so his mom wouldn't let them sit on the floor. There were sirens and people yelling and alarms and lights flashing all around them. They didn't evacuate with the rest of the company. His mom wanted to stay.

Carter's shock was so consuming he didn't even realize that Superman was in his mother's office. But his mom did. His mom was taking care of everything: him, calling an ambulance for James, helping Winn with the cut on his hand, and helping Superman put Kara down on the couch in her office.

Carter sat stoic upon the couch in his mother's office. He was staring down at the floor as he rubbed his hands against his knees. Back and forth. Back and forth. The friction helped ease his otherwise shaking hands.

Although his head was down turned and his eyes were staring at the ground, he didn't see any of it. He was too lost in his own thoughts to see anything. Even hearing what was going on was difficult for him.

"Alex will be here shortly." The voice was deep and unfamiliar to him.

"Do you know what's happened to her?" Winn, that sounded like Winn.

"I have an idea, yes. You're lucky this is the only damage to occur. It could have been much worse."

"Worse?! How could this have been worse?" His mom, that was definitely his mom.

"It could always be worse, Ms. Grant. Always."

"I didn't ask you for vague possibilities. I asked how this could have been worse! My son-"

"Is alive. Worse would be that she didn't save him. That she was deliberately trying to hurt you and your son rather than saving him after an accident."

There was silence for several long moments.

Carter felt his eyes drooping closed as his breathing evened out. "Carter, darling you need to stay awake."

Carter groaned, he didn't want to stay awake. He wanted to sleep. He was so incredibly tired. "Carter Charles Grant. You will keep those eyes open or you will have no internet privileges for two weeks!"

Carter's eyes shot open at the consequence of not listening to his mother. Even though he lagged a bit to the side and happily leaned against his mom and closed his eyes.

"Carter..." There was clear warning in the tone. He hummed his response. Not ready to talk just yet. He opened one eye so he could rest the other for now.

The adults continued to talk but he stopped paying attention. Rather he stared with his one open eye across the room at the couch where Kara was lying. There was a man in tights and a red cape standing beside the arm of the couch but Carter didn't care. His focus was Kara and watching as her chest filled with air and then exhaled. She was breathing; alive. That meant something. Even if she wasn't okay completely she was...well she would be because she was breathing and she would have time to get better.

"We need to get James some help. He hasn't woken up yet."

"I'll fly you both down."

"Alright...you better not drop me! Or I swear I won't let Lois hear the end of it!"

"Hang on tightly, Lucy." Even Carter could detect the exasperation in that.

Kara may have been the one to knock him off the ledge but she was also the one to save him. She'd caught him and brought him right back to his mom, where he'd needed to be.

Carter tightened his grip on his mom's waist as he recalled his fearful thoughts and wishes the primary one being that he'd get to hug his mom again and feel her arms wrap around him and hold him close to her chest, the sound of her heartbeat beneath his ear. He got his wish. He was in his moms arms and they were both relatively safe.

His mom mimicked his grip and squeezed him a bit tighter, dropping a kiss to the top of his head as she did.

Carter watched with critical eyes, counted in his head how long between breaths it took for Kara to breathe. Twenty-five Mississippi between her taking in a slow drawl of air, releasing it, and sucking in another.

"Alex!"

Carter peeked both eyes open at the excites and yet relieved shout.

Alex! He's promised Kara that he would call Alex but he'd forgotten. He perked up in his seat as he looked across the room at Alex and watched as the FBI agent raced to kneel in front of the couch where Kara was lying.

"In here. Bring the stretcher." Alex waved her hand in a circle around and around several times as she directed a dozen other agents into the room.

"The floors been cleared. No one else is present, ma'am."

"Good. Let's get her on that chopper."

Carter squeezed his mom's hand as she moved to stand at the intrusion into her office. "Who exactly are you? And where do you think you're going with my...with Kara?"

"We need to evac now. Come on people, faster. Let's go." Alex ignored Cat's questions, her focus on Kara.

An agent that Carter didn't know came up to him and his mom blocking his view of Kara. He stuck his head out to the side even as the man spoke.

"This area needs to be cleared. Please come with me."

"Do not touch us!" Cat swatted the agents hand away. "We are not going anywhere until I get some answers."

"Alex..." The sound of his voice sounded strange even to him. His throat burned and his voice squeaked in a way he was sure would happen again in the next year or so and puberty hit. Alex turned at the sound of her name and his voice.

He stepped out from behind the agent that was still trying to block his path. "Alex, is she okay? Where are you taking her?"

Alex's face seemed to fall when she caught sight of him. She held his yes for several seconds before she looked away from him, probably to his mother. Whatever Alex was trying to decide she seemed to make her choice after looking at Kara's unconscious form. She sighed heavily enough that her shoulders dropped and she could barely make eye contact with him. "We're going to get her help."

Carter nodded knowing Alex would take care of Kara. Even if he couldn't know how they helped her or see her for a while, Alex would make sure she was okay.

"Alex...she asked for you. Before...well before what happened. Happened." Cat wanted to know how her son knew who Alex was when she herself had been curious (and slightly jealous) of the unknown Alex. For Kara to ask for them when she was ill meant she trusted them, needed them. Cat realized now as Carter spoke with the agent, with whom she'd met before when LiveWire attacked, that the name should ring a bell. Alex. Alexandra Danvers. Kara's emergency contact and foster sister.

Knowing who Alex was didn't make Cat feel any better when she watched the three people that had surrounded Kara put her on a stretcher stand to take her away.

Cat took a threatening half step towards the three agents, but only a half step, more like a pivot, because she couldn't leave Carter. "Where do you think you're going?!" But they were taking Kara and Cat didn't trust these agents, she didn't know who they were or what their intentions were.

"Ms. Grant just relax..." Alex tried, stepping forward as she jerked her head for her bulky agent to follow the three carrying Kara out of the office.

"Relax?! You're letting these...these people take her away like she's some experiment! I will not relax! Not for a second! Tell me where you're taking Kara!" Cat took the first step away from Carter since she'd carried him into her office her hand leaving his shoulder. Carter was okay, he was conscious and safe but Kara, they were taking Kara and she couldn't let them do that.

Hank put himself between Cat and Kara as the medical team strapped Kara onto the stretcher more securely and began to leave the office.

"You can't do this. You can't take her! How do I know you're not going I lock her up! It wasn't her fault. She's, there's something wrong with her. No. Let me go! Let her go!

Alex was just off to the side from Hank and Cat. Her eyes sweeping from Kara's unconscious form back to where Cat was trying to side step Hank. If this situation weren't serious it would have her in a fit of laughter. Cat Grant taking on an alien to protect her assistant from the big bad government agents.

"We are taking her where she will be safe. Where she can heal."

Cat's heart leapt up into her throat her mind conjuring the image of Kara diving off the balcony and disappearing from sight over and over again. There had been a split second, Cat realized now as she recalled the memory, where Kara looked right at Cat and there was a look of something. Something so unlike Kara, hopeful, Kara Sunny Danvers. It wasn't angry like her eyes had been before. It was loss, Kara had looked lost, defeated, doubtful…grim. Cat felt sick to her stomach as her body was wrought with tension. She shook her head from side to side slowly before the dam of emotion finally broke. She could not let that be the last time she looked into Kara's eyes!

"Ms. Grant. Ms. Grant..." Hank tried to calm Cat down but she threw her body weight against him in an effort to get to Kara, who was now about to be out of sight.

"No! No. You can't do this. She has rights damn you! Kara!"

"Ms. Grant it's okay." Winn tried to calm Cat down, eyes wide as he watched the media mogul known for holding her own against terrorist faction leaders, communist heads of state, mob bosses, and meta humans/aliens, fall apart at the idea of Kara being taken away by a government agency she didn't know if she could trust.

"How could you say that! They've taken her! I thought you loved her!" Cat accused, venom and fear dripping from her lips as she spoke, eyes like hot daggers as she glared at Winn. The fact that Winn knew, that he was trusted with Kara's secret, stung. Did Kara have such little faith in her?

"Ms. Grant..." Hank tried to interrupt once again. His voice even and eyes open as he tried to gain Cat's attention so he could calm her down. He had his hands open, palms out and constantly two inches away from Cat's arms, ready to grab the woman if he needed to.

Winn glared right back at Cat, his shoulders straightening as he spoke back to his boss for the first time in three years. "I do love her. But I know that they'll take care of her better than we can right now! _You_ can't help her! _They_ can!" Winn suddenly lost the vehemence and his voice softened. "So let them help her."

The indignant anger/fear that had welled up inside Cat deflated swiftly as she held Winn's eyes, unwilling even in this to back down. Vulnerable as she was in this moment she would be damned if she didn't keep appearances.

"...what if they keep her locked up?" Her voice was small and belayed her honest worry that the DEO would keep Kara against her will. How was she to know their intentions? She had been deliberately kept out of the loop for so long. They'd gone to extreme lengths to cover Kara's tracks, the body double and that imposter two weeks ago, were clear tactics to keep Kara's secret from her.

No one spoke even as the room filled with noise of the emergency teams arriving on sight upon the ground floor. The wailing of sirens and the scratch of glass upon stone trickled in from the balcony, the barely-there metal glass doors of the balcony scratching against the shattered jagged pieces of the once pristine glass.

"We will only keep her until she is healed." Hank broached the sudden silence, waving Alex away so she could follow Kara, voices in their ear pieces saying they were ready to take off.

Carter acted when he saw Alex turning to leave. He needed to be sure that Kara was going to be okay. Not just for himself but for his mom too, who he'd never seen so scared.

"She'll be okay, right Alex?" Carter asked as he stepped towards the oldest Danvers sister.

Alex felt her face and heart cringe at that wide eyed look of hope and desperation on Carter's face. A look only an innocent could muster up to be completely believable. Or, normally it was only the innocent that could muster up such an honest look, but as Alex's eyes flickered from one Grant to the next she realized it could be held by someone who truly cared for someone else as Cat looked just as desperate and hopeful for a positive answer.

Alex moved to bend down in front of Carter, holding his eyes but never touching him. She knew better thanks to Kara's constant brattling on and on about Carter and Cat. The look of pride that Kara exuded when she spoke of how well Carter was doing in school with his grades always made Alex smile. She didn't understand the connection Kara had with Carter, but she did accept it and encouraged it. Even if that meant she was inadvertently encouraging Kara's connection with Cat Grant as well. Alex knew there were worse people her sister could give her heart to.

"I am going to do everything in my power to make sure she's okay." Alex promised, she couldn't promise everything would be okay, but she had every intention of moving heaven and earth to ensure Kara's health (mentally, physically and emotionally).

Carter nodded his head once and stepped back towards his mom. Once at Cat's side he reached up and took her hand in his, squeezing it to keep them both calm. It was his reassurance that things were going to be okay. He trusted Alex, she wouldn't lie to him. If she was going to do her best to make sure Kara was better than he believed that Kara would be just fine very soon.

Cat, unfortunately, wasn't as convinced by Alex's words. Alex however, didn't stay to reassure Cat. She turned on her heels and sprinted out of the room to catch her ride.

Once Alex was out of site Hank looked to Cat, "I will personally call you to update you."

"I want to see her when she's awake." Cat wasn't catering. She would get her way. She would get this agreement or she was going to throw such a shit storm at the U.S. Government they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. She had years' worth of blackmail material she had on just about every official in the President's cabinet. She was saving them for a rainy day but if she needed to up her time table for before the apocalypse to ensure she would have full access to Kara as she healed; then so be it.

Hank considered his options. He could give Ms. Grant what she was asking for or he could refuse and weather the storm of her retribution. The storm Ms. Grant was planning was easily one storm Hank would consider taking a vacation during…on another planet.

"Uhh...I could report back to you so you can stay with Carter." Winn raised a tentative hand as he leaned forward into sight. Cat spun towards him, her glare as deadly as Kara's heat vision. It wasn't his fault. Not really. She just had no intentions of letting anyone take her place ever again.

"Unacceptable. I will see her with my own eyes or so help you when I'm done with you Agent Mulder."

Winn slipped out of sight again and began using the cut gesture behind Cat's back while looking at Hank, trying to warn the man off giving Cat what she wanted.

"Please?" Carter spoke up softly.

Hank looked at Carter, as it was easier than focusing on his mother and the wrath she wished to unleash on him.

"I don't have to go to! I don't. But mom. She needs to see that Kara is okay. Please? Please let her go. She'll follow your directions once you say yes. Right mom?"

Cat slid closer to Carter, as if it were possible, it really just meant she pulled him closer, and nodded her head once when Hank looked at her in question. It seemed Hank was truly unable to imagine Cat Grant following anyone's orders. It was a natural progression. Once you got used to giving the orders it was hard to start taking them again. Just as Hank had learned in his time pretending to be Kara when she was affected by the Black Mercy.

"We will see…"

"What exactly is there to see? You seem like a reasonable man..." If this was a reasonable situation that might be enough, but it wasn't and Cat needed him to understand her position. "Do not test me. I promise you that—"

"We will figure something out, Ms. Grant." Clark floated back into the office and walked across the room towards the conjoined group.

Carter turned to the new voice and his eyes widened, "Superman!"

Superman smiled gently at Carter as he came back into the room.

"Am I just supposed to trust you'll keep your word?" Cat eyed Superman suspiciously. The last time she'd trusted this man she'd nearly died. Twice.

Forgetting that he then saved her twice, she wasn't as sure of him as she was of Supergirl...of Kara. Yet, wasn't it Kara herself who had outed Supergirl as Superman's cousin? They were family. That had to mean something. Didn't it?

"You have before." Clark smiled his 'charming' smile, the one that most people found dreamy. It reminded Cat of Kara's energetic smile and had the opposite effect of calming her down.

"Don't start with me _Tights_. You know exactly how that panned out."

Carter's eyes widened to comical sized saucers, "Mom, you know Superman!?" The too was left unsaid, since now Carter had proved his theory that Kara was Supergirl, and he happened to know her as well.

Cat waved off the shared history she had with Superman as if it meant nothing, "Yes, a long time ago. Before you were born."

"Wow..." Carter whispered in awe. How many superheroes did his mom know? And why hadn't she ever told him about them?

Clark smiled and laughed his belly deep chuckle. "Agent..." He faltered as he didn't know the name that Hank was going by. "I think it would be prudent to bring the Grant's in for testing. They came in contact with the substance that Kara emitted."

Cat's eyes widened as she pulled Carter back behind her and had them take two large steps towards her desk and away from Superman and Agent Mulder. "Making my son and I lab rats is not winning you any points you oversized Boy Scout!"

"It might be best to also have them treated by the same doctors as Kara. To keep the possible leak of infection contained to just the three of them." Carter pulled on his mom's sleeve to quiet her from saying anything when he saw her opening her mouth again. She was getting exactly what she wanted. Just not how she wanted it. Carter's look kept her silent as Hank thought over what Clark was saying. "I've already dropped Lucy and James off with your containment team."

Sighing, Hank knew Clark was right. They needed to make sure the energy didn't effect Cat and Carter now that it had mingled with element X (Kara).

"Very well." Hank spoke into the microphone at his wrist. "Your escorts will be up in a moment. I'll trust you to accompany them?" Hank asked of Clark. Clarke nodded.

"There are still a lot of questions we could use your help with."

"I'll help as much as I can."

"Alright, follow me. There are vans waiting outside." Hank spoke softly into a device on his wrist and by the time they made it to the stairs—because the elevators were off limits—there were four agents taking flank around the group. As they made it to the ground floor they were rushed through a throng of emergency personnel and the gathered press.

Cat wasn't exactly happy with the turn of events but in the end she was getting what she needed, because wanting to be by Kara's side as she healed was underappreciating how much she truly needed to assure herself that Kara was alright.

For the second time in years, Cat Grant offered up a silent prayer to the sky and the heavens and whatever God or Goddess might hear her, for Kara's health and return to them.

**End Part Nine**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** Here is it...the last chapter of Good Girl Gone Bad. (Epilogue due in the two days or so). THANK YOU all for the warm reception here into the Supercat and Supergirl fandom. I have enjoyed it enough that I already have other stories in the works. I hope that you've enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

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**Part 10**

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Metal had the strangest groan. It was an element unlike others. It was durable, sturdy, and didn't easily buckle under pressure. Yet the sound of it as it curved around a solid object was worse than nails on a chalkboard for a Kryptonian. The angry sound of metal's groan echoed in Kara's ears. The sound constantly reverberating through her ear drums even as it sank lower and lower on her registry. The sound was there beneath the clatter of shattered glass, the yelp of stone grinding together, below the racing heartbeats of the people Kara most cared for, and buried under the sound of her name screamed in terror.

_"Kaaaraaa...!"_

Kara's eyes popped open, the irises swirling with red for a moment before they cleared to her normal azure color.

"She's awake!" Carter whispered although the sound of his voice was as loud as his scream had been.

Kara didn't understand the words. She heard them but there was no recognition to them. It was as if they were a language she was unfamiliar with. It sounded like Carter though but Kara couldn't really remember who or what a 'Carter' was.

All Kara was aware of was pain. Pain in every centimeter of her body. Her head felt so heavy she was sure it was going to snap off her neck any second.

Everything was bombarding her. It was like her second day here on Earth when her body had absorbed the red sun enough to completely wrack her system. Her ears picking up the faintest sounds of a chirping beetle five miles away as it walked on a blade of grass. Her eyes seeing just as far in an effort to find the offending and intriguing sound of the insect. The way her skin felt like the wind was rippling through it as if it were nothing more than a bed sheet hung up to be blown about by the wind currents.

The smells.

God, the smells were so disgusting and overwhelming that her stomach revolted and the taste of the semi digested human food only made her empty her stomach over and over again till there was nothing left. It was one of two times she'd thrown up.

When she hit the ground in frustration, fear, and anger the dirt broke apart beneath her fist and sunk into the ground by several inches, the smell of the kicked up dirt making her sneeze over and over again as she began to cry.

Memories like those started to filter in through her ravaged mind. Understanding dawning the longer she remained awake. And with understanding came the pain and the knowledge of what had caused the pain in the first place.

Kara groaned and tried to bring her hands up to her ears to cover them, to keep the influx of sound out but her wrists snagged. She tugged twice more as she tried to turn in on herself and curl into a ball. Her system was overwhelmed by the slightest of noises, the touch of the air being blown on her skin by the air conditioning vent above her, the acidic taste of chemicals in the air made her stomach roll, the lights seemed to flash around her as her x-Ray vision started to fritz like a broken lamp illuminating varying shades of objects where ever she looked.

Kara squeezed her eyes closed tightly and yanked harder at the cuffs around her wrist. She could feel the kryptonite leaching into her wrists from the engineered handcuffs. The touch of the offending element making her frustration reach a peek.

Kara kicked out with her legs and the bed rocked against the wall with a loud thump. Her heart hammered in her chest as memories of this afternoon began to filter in through her mind's eye. One memory scarier than the other as she finally recalled saving Carter and watching Cat, with a breaking heart, run away from her with Carter wrapped protectively in her arms. Safety, Cat had taken her son to safety, which at the time meant as far away from Kara as possible.

Kara felt tears slip past her closed eyes.

Someone was talking to her but their voice was nothing but a whisper in the storm of all the sounds she could hear no longer able to filter them properly. She whined pitifully and thrashed against the bed like an agitated animal as she couldn't get a grasp on her powers. The irritating touch of kryptonite on her wrists an irritant that only seemed to dull her physical strength while the rest of her senses remained as strong and 'alien' as they were under Earth's yellow sun.

"Kara…you need to calm down. Kara…" Alex stood at the side of the bed trying to calm Kara down. The monitors against the wall were blaring in warning as Kara began to seize, the stress on her brain too much for her to handle at once.

"Superman!" Alex called out as she looked towards the observation area. Clark, who'd been standing there a moment before, appeared inside the room, leaving Carter and Cat on the other side of the glass looking in. Both Carter's hands were pressed against the glass as he tried to force himself to bleed through the solid object so he could be inside Kara's room with her. Help her, like she'd helped him.

"Hold her down. She's going to hurt herself…" Alex instructed as she went to a roller cabinet that had several drawers full of items Alex might need. She searched for the right needle and filled it with a liquid she grabbed from another drawer.

"How do you expect to inject her with that?" Clark asked as he did his best to hold Kara's shoulders down as she bucked and thrashed against him.

Alex didn't answer him verbally, she moved the kryptonite cuff to the side and shot the injection into Kara's wrist, the needle breaking through her skin so she could administer the drug. Clark was impressed.

"What is it?" Clark asked as he watched Alex ready another needle, drawing a silver liquid from a vial.

"Working." Alex sighed with relief as the numbers on Kara's monitors started to equalize and her convulsions stopped.

Alex looked over her shoulder and saw the relief she felt herself move through the witnesses at the observation window. Cat looked as if she were going to either throw up or commit murder, Alex wasn't sure which was scarier.

"Maybe you should go tell our observers that she's going to be fine. She's just going to need to sleep a little longer."

"I think I'll leave that for you, Doc." Clark wasn't ready to hear Cat and Lucy berate him for being so slow to get to National City or answer James' many texts. Lucy had made it very clear that Lois was going to hear about his lack of support.

"I'm not some kid anymore, Kal-El." Alex stresses his Kryptonian name, even with her back to Cat Grant she wouldn't risk speaking his name aloud. Kara would never forgive her if she outed her cousin. It was one thing for Cat Grant to know that Kara Danvers was Supergirl, it was another for Cat Grant to know that Clark Kent—husband to her rival and nemesis—was Superman.

"No, now you're all grown up. But of all the things I've had to face in my life Cat Grant is one of those few people that I will avoid at all costs. Especially, well, in either personality to be honest."

Alex's eyebrow raised in silent question, "Oh my god…she scares you!"

Clark's eyes found the floor, "She's an intimidating woman."

Alex smirked, "Which means, she scares you."

"Yes..." He was pained to admit it, "And Lois made me promise not to upset her."

"Wait, wait, Kara said that Cat can't stand Lois?"

Clark smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye. It always amazed her how much Clark could love Lois and how easy it was to see Clark Kent in Superman's face when he spoke of his wife. It also made her stomach tighten as she recognized the look in Clark's eyes, the way his face softened and his voice deepened with the clear emotion welled inside him for Lois. It was the same look, same sound, same…everything except it was Kara's face, Kara's voice, Kara's eyes that shone with love for Cat Grant.

The realization wasn't easy, Alex had been attempting to understand this new revelation for the last few weeks, it would take time, but Alex could accept Cat as Kara's 'Lois' if Cat treated her sister right. And if she were being honest with herself, Cat was off to a pretty good start. Cat had respected the rules of the DEO, she'd promised to sign documents to keep the secret, she'd even allowed them to blindfold her and Carter when they were brought here. She'd allowed them to take her cellphone—which was broken by the concussion wave anyway—she'd let their medical team look over her and Carter, made comments of course, but Alex found herself trying not to smile at a majority of them.

Cat Grant was doing everything asked of her, even if some of it was hard for her, and she was doing it because she was worried about Kara, because she cared for Kara, and maybe even loved Kara for her, and not because she was Supergirl. Cat Grant loved Kara Danvers, not Supergirl, and that made all the difference for Alex. She'd hold off on final judgement, but as she thought moments before, Cat was off to a good start.

"They're actually rather fond of each other. They just have this…odd…relationship. I don't understand it most of the time, but I've been threatened on more than one occasion, by both…in order to protect the other."

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose, "You mean to tell me…that Lois Lane and Cat Grant are actually…friends…?"

Clark nodded his head twice, and the sight of it was just so…Kara…that Alex felt her chest tighten. She dropped her eyes back down to her sister and sighed. What Kara wouldn't give to know that Cat Grant actually liked Lois. Alex faltered as she swallowed down her emotions, her eyes filling with tears that she refused to let fall.

Alex brushed her fingers across Kara's forehead, moving some errant hair away from her face and her chin quivered at the pained moan that escaped her sister's lips.

"She's going to be okay…" Clark seemed so sure that the only thing that Alex could do was nod, even as the emotion she was barely keeping in check leaked out one eye...then the other...and soon her shoulders were slumped and her fingers clutched tightly into the torn hospital bed sheet beneath Kara.

"She has to be."

Clark appeared beside Alex and placed his hand on her shoulder. He squeezed tightly—tight for a human—and pulled Alex into a one armed hug. "She will be! If this treatment doesn't work…there are...other ways to pull the red K from her. In less conventional ways."

Alex shuddered, those less conventional ways had made her want to try this one. It was experimental but it was better than stabbing Kara with a Kryptonite blade and leaving it in her long enough for the infection to drain out like it were just puss. Currently they had injected Kara will low levels of synthetic green kryptonite in an attempt for it to leech out the Red K. There were two catheter of sorts in Kara's stomach and wrist collecting the black blood that Clark assured Alex meant it was working. However, the thick oil like substance that was decreasing out of those tubes looked so similar to Bizarro's blood that it frightened Alex.

Clark kept his hold on Alex as she released her worry for Kara but his eyes found the heart that was beating in constant worry. The sight of Carter Grant holding both of his moms arms over his chest, rubbing one of them, as Cat looked into Kara's room, wasn't what surprised him. The surprise came when Clark looked at Cat and saw the media mogul only had eyes for Kara and she looked at Kara like she was more precious than all the money and awards Cat could ever hope to receive. Clark frowned slightly and turned back to look at his older cousin. His stance a little more rigid as he waited, like the rest of them, for Kara to open her eyes.

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Cat Grant was not a patient woman. Nor was she a forgiving woman. The fact that Director Henshaw had collared them, the Super amigos, Carter, and herself, into a locked down conference room made her itch. She did not do tight spaces and this conference room was anything but spacious. Also, the temperature clearly was not regulated. Add to the fact that they were beneath the ground in a secret government base made Cat's skin practically crawl off the bone.

"Where are they?" Cat asked her fingers tapping insistently against the table.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon, Cat." Lucy answered softly, though she didn't look away from James. The bandage around his head hiding the stitches they'd needed to put in his laceration. They were worried about the concussion he had so the doctors hadn't let him sleep for the first three hours. Now he was allowed to sleep in intervals but Lucy kept an ever watchful eye on him as he slept. He refused to stay in a hospital bed. He'd been in the observation room with the rest of them watching as Kara had woken only to go into a fit. It was only after they'd been moved into this room that he finally let his eyes fall closed.

Winn had his head rested on the table they were all currently sitting around. His eyes heavy and lidded as he forced his neck up to look at everyone before dropping it back down and closing his eyes. It was nearly four in the morning and many of them had been up since six am the previous day.

Carter was sitting in the chair next to Cat, the legs pushed up against each other so he could rest his head on Cat's shoulder and rest. The doctors had said he was fine, that he'd be tired for a while as his body went through a shock-Cat wanted to know where they got their medical degrees and certifications from because she could have easily assessed the same thing-they advised a week off from school and that they all were under quarantine for the next 48 hours. Whatever had expelled from Kara hadn't effected their cells, yet. But doctors kept coming in to take new blood samples.

Cat said little as the doctors and nurses collected her blood and Carter's. Winn had jokingly asked if they'd take enough to make clones of them, but the doctors hadn't even smiled. It was a harrowing process and one Cat wasn't as grateful for as she thought she might be. These doctors were, after all, attempting to ensure that none of them ended up like Leslie.

"It has been an hour since we were taken into this room. I do not understand why we could not remain in the observation room." Where she could watch over Kara, even if she couldn't go in and see her.

Cat understood the need for precautions when it came to her. These people, these agents, they didn't trust her. They had no reason to. For all they knew she was going to use the information she gained by being here at this facility and blow a hole straight through their 'top secret' headquarters roof, all metaphorically speaking of course. Still, they were treating her with kid gloves and yet she hadn't been able to get the information she'd needed. She hadn't been able to get passed the guards that stood at the doorway to Kara's rooms. She'd been shown to an observation room, where Winn was already standing, watching over Kara as doctors scrambled right to left to left to right around Kara's bed.

There had been dozens of wires attached to Kara that led to four different monitors all with readings and graphs that Cat couldn't understand. At least when they were in the observation room Cat would know what was going on. She could watch these doctors and scientists that she didn't trust do their little tests and examinations on one of the most important people in her life.

Cat refused to acknowledge that the extent of her relationship with Kara was going to be…whatever it had been the last few weeks. Kara knew now. Cat had admitted to her feelings out loud. A terrifying thought on a normal day and today had been anything but normal.

Kara jumped off a building to save Carter (a building she'd accidentally pushed him off of due to whatever element had affected her) and effectively outed herself as Supergirl. There was footage of a woman not in a Supersuit catching Carter and blasting off back into the sky. Thankfully, Kara's face was hidden behind Carter's shoulder but it was clear who she had saved from the fall.

The news was blanketed by the images of Superman catching a falling young woman and carrying her to safety, of Superman dropping down by an obvious government issue ambulance with his longtime friend, Jimmy Olsen. Reporters from CatCo were even questioning where Cat was herself as the reporters had shots of Cat, Carter and Winn being led to a black Government issue van and disappearing into the night.

It had taken nearly three hours for Cat to convince Director Henshaw to let her call her staff to assure them of her safety and give a brief interview—not something she'd gotten permission to do but had done anyway—on her well-being and that of her son. She also issued a statement about the explosion and informed the media that it had been caused by an unknown alien element that affected a visitor in CatCo. She'd issued statements of tanks and gratefulness for the heroics of Superman for her employees. The damage that had been caused to the CatCo building was tremendous while the surrounding Skyscrapers fared far better. Cat had praised the quick efforts of the emergency agencies, and the FBI for a tremendous job in containing the issue as best they could in face of the accident at CatCo.

Hank hadn't appreciated her liberty to give a live interview over the phone, but he had to concede that it did help the situation. It defused the media circus circulating ideas that Supergirl had attacked CatCo and had then been taken into custody. The fact that Cat didn't publically thank 'Supergirl' for saving Carter also helped the media shift its story towards who the mystery savoir was if not Supergirl. The world was accustomed to meta humans these days, and to immediately assume the savior was Supergirl, although correct, didn't take into account all the possibilities. The fact that Cat had left Supergirl's name out of the interview shifted the scope, and she knew it would. It didn't hurt that Carter's father issued a statement thanking the mystery woman for saving his son—from where he'd been at an airport in London, about to board a flight back to the US to be with his son.

It also portrayed the 'FBI' in a generous light as well.

Hank was just counting the hours until he could release Ms. Grant and her son from his custody. Once Cat Grant was out of his hair and Kara woke up (and was alright) he could finally relax. Until then he had nothing to do but fret and worry, and do so without actually appearing like he was fretting or worrying while inside he was anything but calm.

Walking into the conference room Hank took a deep breath and prepared himself to face a humanoid shaped ball of blonde fury.

Cat Grant snapped her attention to Hank as soon as he stepped into the room. If it weren't for Carter resting against her she would have stood as soon as the door opened.

Winn's head came off the table as he pushed his back against his chair, nearly toppling it over.

Hank took another steadying breath before he began. "This is what we know. Please let me finish before speaking." Hank looked directly at Cat, whose mouth closed before she could make a sound.

Lucy gently woke James up so he could hear the update; their first in nearly five hours. James sat at attention and listened just as carefully as everyone around the room.

"Supergirl was affected by a weapon that generates an elemental substance that affects her brain chemistry. Her actions. Essentially it changes her personality. We are currently attempting to leach the substance from her blood system. It is going to take some time as the element acts much like a virus, overtaking the blood cells. Thankfully, once we've eradiated the cells, if there are still remnants, her cousin is the perfect blood donor to help us flush her system."

Carter relaxed and smiled softly at the news. It was good news. He patted his mom's hand as Hank continued. Assured, if no one else was, that Alex had found a way to save Kara.

"We will be keeping her in an induced coma so the stress to her brain is minimal. She is suffering from seizures; to keep any permanent damage we're going to keep her in this coma. The expulsion she released helped make our work easier, but the virus is still strong. It will take time for her to heal."

"How much time?" Winn asked, playing with the sleeves of his shirt. Most were surprised it was Winn that spoke and not Car.

Hank offered the young man a soft look, "She will be here for several days, possibly weeks, recovering. There is no telling how long it will take for the element to leave her system." Winn nodded and his head drooped a bit.

Cat, against her better judgement, reached out across the table and took a hold of the young man's hand. She said nothing, just squeezed his hand and held his watering eyes.

Kara would be okay. They just needed to wait for her to heal. Winn closed his eyes as he sank into his chair, unable to hold Cat's eyes anymore. Lucy, who was seated between Winn and James, put her hand on his shoulder as he finally broke down. They'd all had their moments in the ten hours, Winn had been the only one to remain stiff and silent, brooding. Now, now his system finally collapsed around the bombardment of the knowledge that Kara would be okay, she was healing, she would be okay.

"Can we see her?" Carter asked when Winn had finally calmed down.

"Yes," They all stood up at once. "Not at the same time. Two at the most!"

As impatient as Cat was, Kara, well Kara was someone she could be patient for. She'd let the Superamigos in first. Then she and Carter would see her, and everything would get better. It would just take time.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"The readings are still the same."

"I don't understand. She should be awake."

Paper shuffled and the clink of metal on metal echoed for a moment before there was just the rhythmic beep-beep-beep-beep of a machine. The hum of the electricity as it powered the machines and the UV lights. There was warmth surrounding her that didn't have to do with her sunbed alone.

"Mhngh..."

"Did you hear that?"

"Look, her hands twitching."

"Another seizure?"

"No! Look, her eyelids, eyes are moving."

"She's waking up."

"Quick! Get Agent Danvers."

Kara groaned again at the mention of Agent Danvers.

Alex... "Hhmxs"

Kara fought it for as long as she could but the darkness began to descend on her again and clarity of sound and touch was lost to her as she fell back to sleep.

"Kara! Kara..." Alex stumbled in her haste to enter the room. She stopped just short of the sun bed her eyes tracking Kara's breathing and the way her face relaxed into that special way that spoke of the sweet slumber her exhausted sister rarely enjoyed.

Alex hiccupped a small laugh as she smiled, her hand falling onto Kara's hand as the door opened behind her and Clark came rushing into the room. His shoulders fell when he saw Kara was still asleep, though he wondered if Alex had finally snapped under the pressure to help Kara and her own worry over her. Why else would she be smiling and chuckling like that?

"She's sleeping..."

"I don't understand. She's been sleeping this whole time."

Alex shook her head 'no' as she turned to look at Clark over her shoulder. Smile still in place. "She was in an induced coma before. Now...now she's sleeping."

Clark matched Alex's smile when he realized what Alex was saying. Kara was sleeping on her own now. No medicine to keep her that way just her own body deciding it needed the rest. The weight that was lifted off Clark's shoulders was as immense as the one that flew off of Alex's at this knowledge.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Mhnn..." Kara's head twisted from the right and then snapped to the left. Her hands fisted at her side and her left leg twitched frustratedly as her eyes swiveled around behind her closed eyelids.

"Shhh...shh...it's okay. You're safe. Everyone is safe." The voice was soft and the touch of a warm hand soothed the tension from Kara's arm. "That's it. Shh...calm down. Everything is okay."

Kara moaned in her sleep and turned her head towards the voice that calmed her. Her eyes still closed as her breathing evened out and she escaped from her nightmares thanks to the voices soft reassurances that everything was okay, that everyone was safe.

"That's it darling. Sleep. We'll all be here when you're ready to wake."

"Mhmm..." Kara settled once again, her breathing evening out even as her fingers twitched as they held gently to the hand that'd been resting on the bed beside her.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kara was alone when her eyes opened for the first time. It took a moment to reign in her senses but only a moment. When it passed she kept very still as she assessed the situation. She was slowly recalling her memories, trying to ascertain why she was in the DEO in a hospital bed. Her skin felt warm, like it usually did after she was on the sun bed for a long time. Her body ached though, her stomach and chest in particular.

Groggily she lifted her hand up to her chest and touched her collarbone, her wrist snagging as she went to drag her fingers from left to right. There was an IV attached to her wrist that seemed to have a small ring of kryptonite at the spout. Her eyes traced the line to the IV stand and saw the bag of fluids was nearly empty.

Kara slowly tried to sit up. Her body felt heavy, heavier than it'd felt when she'd blown her powers. She often wondered what it would feel like to actually physically feel the force of gravity against her body. She wondered if this is what all humans felt like or if the weight and pain she was registering had more to do with the trauma she'd gone through.

Kara listened to the sounds around her, looking for something, someone. Kara could hear the voices of two guards she knew worked the night shift. The lights were also dimmed around the offices. It must be late, or early depending on the point of view.

Kara winced, her eyes scrunching up along the sides as she brought her left hand up to her ear. There was a ringing sensation in it as she tried to locate Alex by just listening to the sounds around her. Her head throbbed and the pulse was echoed by a resounding thump in her chest.

Kara was about to swing her leg over the edge of the bed when she was suddenly staring up at the ceiling again, her back lying flat against the bed. She felt a rush swim through her thoughts as the room seemed to spin. Her stomach suddenly wasn't in pain but she was nausea. She'd only ever been nausea the one time she'd taken a plane with Alex to the Dominican Republic for Spring Break. Apparently flying on a plane gave her motion sickness. She'd sworn off commercial flying ever since. She preferred to fly herself someplace or she took a car. She'd work her way towards getting into other countries now that she had a public persona that might not require her have a passport stamped to show she came in the country 'legally'.

With her stomach rolling around like it was a hamster's wheel, Kara turned on her side and pulled her legs up quickly, all in an effort to stave off the possibility of throwing up.

It didn't work.

Kara gagged and her body tensed and rocked with the motion of her retching. She thankfully had nothing in her stomach to throw up, but her body trembled and muscles flexed at the exertion.

"Hey...hey...relax. Relax..."

Kara felt tears fall past her eyes at the pain and the soothing sound of Alex's voice. The touch of her sister's hand on her back helped as she continued to heave nothing but air, coughing and choking at the relatively new sensation/body function.

"Alex..." Kara sniffled as tears stained her back, the muscles along her shoulders and sides coiling in expectation.

"It's okay. Hang on..." Alex rushed around the bed and started rifling through a drawer by one of the machines she was attached to. A nurse came into the room to help Alex, taking whatever her sister had grabbed and injected it into the IV line as Alex came to stand in front of her once again, her hands smoothing out the tension in her back and side.

Kara was incredibly embarrassed to be seen in tears over something so...human. But no matter how hard she tried to stop them they continued to fall. A thin layer of sweat started to cover every available inch of her skin.

"It's the Kryptonite that's in your system. Your body's trying to reject it. It'll be over soon." Alex's voice was as reassuring as it had been those first few nights after Kal El had brought her to the Danvers home.

Kara groaned her acceptance of Alex's explanation and tried to relax as her body shook. The warmth that hit her wrist was the medicine the nurse had put in the IV line. Within a moment the warmth spread up her arm and Kara could practically see the liquid as it traveled through her veins.

Alex counted in her head and as soon as the clock on the wall hit the number she was waiting for she pulled out the IV line attached to Kara's wrist and moved to the one that was in her stomach. Kara hadn't even noticed that one until Alec pulled it out and there was a moment of pain before it disappeared. The drop of blood clinging to the needle was...wrong. It wasn't red. It was a black navy like color that looked more like oil than blood with its thick consistency.

"Alex..." Kara had so many questions but her teeth were suddenly chattering and her body which had been wracked with tension began to tremble as it plagued by aftershocks or hypothermia. She was suddenly so cold that she was desperate for a blanket, and yet with how sticky she felt thanks to the sweet clinging to her she just wanted to strip down all together.

"Being...human...is...exhausting." Especially with its contradictions. How could she be hot and cold at the same time? What purpose did this feeling have?

Alex appeared in front of her within seconds, her hand brushing away the damp curls that lay across Kara's forehead.

Kara took the time to study her sister. She looked terrible. There were distinguishable circles under her eyes and she looked like she'd been starved for days. Her skin didn't have its normal vibrancy to it. Her shoulders hung lower than usual. Her eyes were glazed as if she'd been staring at a computer screen for too long, the white in her eyes tinged with a touch of red.

"How many?"

"We can talk about that later, Kara."

"How many, Alex?!"

Alex sighed, "75 injured."

Kara closed her eyes tightly. Finding it hard to swallow, "Dead?"

"None! Kara, none. Only four seriously injured." James being one of those four. "The rest were scrapes and stitches."

Kara didn't relax by far but she was grateful none had died. "Carter...is he?"

"He's fine. Better than fine. He was here at the DEO for the first two days, under observation to make sure the expulsion didn't have detriment effects on human cells."

"He must have liked that..." The little scientist that he was. Kara heard her voice crack and realized she must sound terrible. "Water?"

"Here..." Alex disappeared for a minute or two before returning with a cup of ice chips. "Have some of these. If they don't bother you we'll move you to water and some juice."

Kara didn't comment, she obediently took the ice chips and started sucking on a few of them at a time.

"Two days?" She'd mentioned two days. Was that how long she'd been out?

"Well, that's how long he was here. He was fine! They all were. No side effects. Cat still comes every day. Carter came once more with her, but she stopped bringing him around. I think he's at his dad's now, but I wasn't about to ask." Alex played with the bed sheet, her eyes downcast suddenly. "It's, it's been ten days."

Kara dropped the ice chip she was about to put in her mouth. "Ten days?!" Kara banged her head into the bed once, twice, thrice, before she clamped her eyes closed. Ten days.

"What happened to me Alex? It was normal at first. It was just me. But then it was like at times it was me but it wasn't. I could see and hear what I was doing but I couldn't control myself. It was...it was scary. I've never had such dark thoughts before."

"It was the weapon from the Arillien scientist. It was powered by red kryptonite. Which, Clark has run into before. It doesn't affect your powers like green kryptonite. Rather it affects your impulse control, your personality. It splits your personalities in a way and empowers one over the other."

Kara peeked her eyes open, "Cat was here? She…" Kara stalled for a moment, "…she doesn't ha-hate me?"

Alex shakes her head at how troubled Kara is at the idea of Cat hating her. She smiles softly at her sister and laughs softly, "No, Kara. She doesn't hate you."

"How could I?"

Alex turns to the side and Kara is shocked to see Cat Grant standing in the middle of the DEO dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt.

"You're early." Alex comments without looking at the time.

Cat waves off the statement as she moves further into the room, eyes on Kara, and Kara alone. Alex shakes her head and takes two large steps away from the bed so she can stand on the other side of it.

"I just need to run a few tests and then I'll leave you two alone." Alex's words fell on deaf ears.

Alex finished her tests with little difficulty. Kara complied with each of her requests even as she maintained eye contact with Cat, Cat who by some grace of god had seemingly lost the power of speech. The only form of communication the two women needed was their eyes. They hadn't stopped staring at each other since Cat came into view. It was starting to make Alex uncomfortable.

Once Alex finished the last of her exams she noticed Cat's hand inch onto the bed, her pinky brushing against Kara's. It was sweet and touching and had an immediate effect on Kara, who seemed to have had the weight lifted off her shoulders by this one simple action.

Alex slipped out of the room to give her sister some much deserved privacy.

The silence remained between both women for several long minutes after Alex left them alone. They each were stuck within their own minds, unable to voice all the words they wanted to for sudden fear of rejection. It was one thing for Cat to admit that she loved Kara during a rather unexpected and unprecedented event. It was another for the woman to admit to such feelings when there were no extenuating circumstances. Of course, then there was the horror Kara felt knowing that she had only just barely saved Carter's life. She had almost been responsible for Carter's death…by accident or not. It was a very humbling and moritying knowledge to possess. Kara wasn't even sure if she could look Carter in the eyes ever again. Hell, Kara could suddenly no longer look Cat in the eyes either.

Their hands, which had been so close to finally holding on to each other, separated as Kara inched hers away. Her eyes watching as her palm glided across the soft material of the sheets beneath her. The space between her hand and Cat's growing by the centimeter until she was pressing her hand against her hip. Her message was received loud but it was the farthest thing from clear.

Cat's eyebrow rose in silent question as her eyes flickered towards Kara's hand and back to the younger woman's face. "Kara...?"

The sound of her name from Cat's lips was the straw that broke her. The pleading in the name, Cat's request for answers in just the mere sound of her name, it broke her.

Tears fell from her eyes and she felt like they'd never stop. First she cried over the kryptonite induced nausea, and now the soft utterance of her name? Stress and fear did powerful things, even to aliens.

"I...I am sooo sorry." Kara grit her teeth and forced the words out past the tears.

"What is it that you're sorry for, Kara?" Cat's hand moved and then stopped halfway as if she rethought trying to touch Kara. Instead she brought her arms in and around herself.

"How can you ask that?" Kara glanced up at Kara with unconcealed shock.

"I destroyed your office and the CatCo building."

"It's being fixed as we speak. The contractors assure me it'll be done by the end of the month."

"Do you think that matters? Really?" Kara sat up and leaned against the wall behind the bed. She pulled her legs up to her chest and ignored how much it ached to do so.

Cat sighed, "This isn't about the office..."

"Of course it's not about the office!" Kara's voice rose before she lowered it at the piercing look Cat gave her. "I almost killed you. I nearly killed Carter!"

"But you didn't..."

"Do you think it'll matter that I saved him when he starts having nightmares about how I didn't save him, or how he'll never want to stand on a balcony again or..or talk to me ever again?" Kara hid her face against her knees unable to meet Cat's eyes any longer.

"He adores you! He has been beside himself with worry about you. We...we both have." Cat took a seat on the edge of the bed and put her hand on top of Kara's knee. The action wasn't natural for either of them but her desire to help Kara was honest and the earnestness to make Kara understand was as natural as it could be for her.

Cat knew that if she let Kara close herself off now, it would be impossible to reach her. "You saved him. You dove off the ledge and saved him." Cat had heard Clark, because of COURSE, Clark was Superman-she and Lois had a lot more to talk about. Cat had bitten the bullet and had spoken with the woman when she called Lucy to check up on her. There were, after all, many questions Cat had that only Lois would have the answers to and if Cat had learned anything in Her years as a journalist, you never turned away a good source. Lois explained that what Kara had done was incredibly dangerous when she saved Carter-Lois had spent the first ten minutes explaining to Cat that if she was blaming Kara about any of this she should suck a lemon and jump off a bridge-(Lois' less colorful commentary).

Kara wouldn't have known if her powers would work when she jumped off the building. She only had hope that they would. Red K, that's what Lois had called the element that had effected Kara, was something that in other forms could and would really hurt Kara. This one made her reckless, could deplete her powers, and in extreme cases turn her morally corrupt-evil. Lois, when she'd gotten her head out of her ass, had also been rather understanding when Cat tried and failed miserably to explain her feelings for Kara and what she wanted. Because if Kara was willing to jump off a building to save her son, unsure if she even could then save herself...Cat could admit that she had no intentions of letting Kara go. Ever.

"Of course I did!"

"Without knowing if you could even fly!"

"I wouldn't need to fly. I'd just need to reach him and throw him. I could do that. It would have given Kal-El enough time to get here and grab him." Kara wondered what horrified Cat more, the fact that she'd jumped off the ledge not knowing if she could save Carter, or knowing she could save him but didn't know if she could save herself.

"You...cannot be that reckless." Cat's stern glare made Kara swallow thickly.

"I'll do whatever I have to do to save him."

"I know you will." Cat grabbed Kara's hand and squeezed it as hard as she could.

Cat's heart warmed at the devotion Kara held towards her son. A part of Cat understood that Kara would save any child over herself, but Carter was special to Kara. Kara loved Carter and she would die protecting him. It was a love and sacrifice Cat wondered if Carter's father would be willing to make if it ever came to it. Cat suspected he wouldn't, so to know her assistant, who was Carter's friend, loved him more than his father...shocked Cat. Shook her to the core to know Kara loved Carter as much as she did because she could. Kara chose to love Carter, the girl chose to care for her as well. Cat knew Carter deserved that type of love but she often wondered if SHE could deserve it.

"I know you do. And so does he. So you see Kara, your reasoning's are just unfounded fears."

"Legitimate fears! What if this happens again? What if it's worse next time?"

"Then, we will know what to do and how to help you." Cat needed Kara to believe her, for both their sakes. "You were not to blame for this, and as your cousin has said," Because Cat wasn't willing to divulge that she knew Clark's secret just yet. "...this sort of method in expelling the element was because you absorbed it as an energy source, not from the original source." Cat rubbed her thumb back and forth across Kara's knuckle.

"It wasn't me, the things I said, did..."

"Oh, Kara, don't be silly. Of course it was you. It was how you felt but would never normally express."

"Ms. Grant..."

"Cat..." Cat corrected.

"Cat... You don't understand what I was thinking. Willing to do. It was...frightening."

"Perhaps the thoughts escalated farther than your words or actions did. It's funny though, I quite liked your sudden confidence boost." Kara's eyes widened. "It was very attractive." Cat's lips raised into a smirk as she watched Kara's eyes widen and her cheeks suddenly bloom with color.

It took Kara a while to regain her composure. In that time Cat held her hand. The warmth of her skin helped ground her, keep her calm in a way she didn't know was possible outside of Alex.

"I never want to hurt you. Or Carter, especially Carter. The both of you mean sooo...much to me."

"Kara..."

"Please, let me finish." Kara implored. Cat nodded her head and closed her lips. "I know what happened was an accident. I logically know that. I do. But it happened. I felt the fear of losing Carter, you, my friends. I didn't know if I'd make it, Cat. I didn't know if I could reach him and that thought terrified me. It would have paralyzed me if not for the dire circumstances. I need you to understand that the fear I felt. It's still here..." Kara used her free hand to place it against her chest. "It hasn't left me. And it never will. And maybe that'll make me more cautious or aware or something. But I need you to understand that I love Carter. And I love you. And that will never change..."

"Don't be so dramatic. It sounds like you're breaking up with us. With me. Before we've even gone on a date."

Kara looked down at their joined hands. "Kara Danvers, you look me in the eyes. You have never had a problem looking me in the eyes. It might take you longer than most but you will not stop now."

Kara, properly chastised, did as she was told.

"I am afraid. Mortified and petrified, truly, by whatever it is between us. I have been for some time. You, unlike anyone in my life, have been able to see me for who I am, all of me. I cannot hide from you, though I do try." Cat stared at their hands as if they held all the answers. "I push you away. I'm snarky and witty and I bite back before ever barking. But you...you...have always taken everything with a grain of salt. You care." Cat's eyes were filled with unashamed wonder as she looked at Kara. "Not about just CatCo or your paycheck, though I'm sure they both matter to you, you care about _**me**_. What's best _for_ me. For Carter. God Kara...the way you love my son." Cat shook her head finding the words were suddenly caught in her throat.

She cleared her throat and tried again, her free hand resting against the rosy hued skin of her décolletage. "You would do anything for him. More than even I think his father would. That devotion, is rare. It's pure. And I know that Carter deserves it. He does, biased or not." Kara's lips quirked just a bit. "I don't deserve such devotion, Kara."

"Cat you…"

Cat pressed her finger against Kara's lips silencing her. "You had your chance to talk. Now it's mine."

Kara nodded her head slowly, and both women's eyes watched as Cat dropped her index finger away from Kara's mouth, but only fell an inch as it hooked under her chin and her thumb lazily traced over the soft supple pink lips.

"I want…the devotion." Cat whispered, "…You. More than I should. More than is seemly." Cat shook her head and stared up at the ceiling for a moment as she smiled at the absurdity of it all. "Our age difference, economic status, hell our species be damned. I don't care about any of it. I just." Cat brought her hand back up to Kara's cheek, which Kara leaned in to as her eyes fluttered. "I watched you jump off that ledge, I watched your cousin bring you back and those agents whisper about your prognosis and could do nothing as they took you away from me. I've sat in this room for hours every day waiting for you to wake up, to look at me in that way…that way you do. And I no longer care about anything outside of what you want. What I want. So please…" Cat's eyes misted over as she brushed her thumb slowly across the warm expanse of Kara's cheek. "…don't push me away. Not now. Not when I am more sure than ever that we can do this if we both want to."

Kara squeezed her eyes closed tightly and rushed to grab a hold of Cat's hand. She held it tightly against her cheek craving the softness the closeness the desire it represented. Kissing the inside of Cat's palm, she heard the spike in Cat's heartbeat and the sudden rise in her pheromones.

Cat had faith in them, in her. It was always Cat's faith in her that kept her grounded, sure in what she was doing. The guidance that Cat offered freely was vital to everything Kara did.

Cat was never afraid of her. She was always supportive, if not a bit pushy. Even after seeing what could happen she was here, at the DEO, sitting on her bed, caressing her face, assuring her that she was aware of what could happen. Cat knew all the obstacles they would face, she knew the dangers and the opposition. She didn't care. No, no, she cared, but she wasn't willing to let anything affect what she knew could be good for her, Kara, and Carter.

Cat Grant had set her sights on her and who was Kara Danvers to deny her?

Maybe her arguments, her fears, were invalid in some sense. Maybe they weren't. Only time would tell which of them was right.

"I do want…that. I just, there are so many other things to consider."

"Nonsense. There is really only one thing to worry about now that we've seen each other at our worst and survived."

Kara's lips twitched, "And that is?"

"Do you…will you," Cat rolled her eyes at the pedestrian question, "Date me?"

Kara opened her eyes and smiled as brightly as the twinkling night stars outside of city limits. The same sparkle glowing in the young woman's eyes.

"I'll do you one better." A warm confidence swirled inside her.

"Oh?"

Kara nodded her head as she hummed, "Mmhmm…I'll love you."

"I knew you had brains beneath all that brawn."

Kara flexed her arm muscle as she leaned forward till her nose was practically touching Cat's. "You like my brawn…."

Cat sniffed, as if put off by the whole conversation, but there was a distinctive flush to her cheeks that she couldn't hide. "Well, that is, beyond the point." Cat's eyes were crossed as she stared down at how close Kara's lips were.

"What is the point?"

Cat licked her lips eyes dilated, "I've forgotten."

"Good." Kara smirked, slid her fingers up into Cat's hair—finally able to see just how soft it was after all—and pulled Cat forward just enough so their lips brushed gently against the other. Cat groaned at the softness and barely there touch.

"Must I do everything myself?" She mumbled as she brought both hands up to Kara's cheeks and kissed the younger woman with the entirety of her desire, fear, and longing.

Kara had never felt more alive. Every inch of her body hummed as if it were attached to a battery and it was charging her already frayed cells. Reviving them in a way she hadn't realized was needed. And yet the more it slid through her the more she wanted, the more she craved. It was like the Red K and yet different because the source of this sudden energy was the touch of Cat's lips, the swipe of her tongue, the taste of her and feel of her hands pulling her ever closer.

The Red K had moved through her system like a virus, it killed her bumbling ineptitude and awoke within her a confidence she only exuded when she wore her super suit. Now, as she sat kissing Cat Grant, she realized the Red K had only truly awoken something in herself that was already there. And whether it was still in her system or not she'd had a taste for it and found she liked it. Good or bad, if it brought her Cat Grant, it was worth it.

Deciding this, Kara lost herself in the unknown of the upcoming chapters in the book of life.

**End Part 10**

**The End**


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight months after Kara wakes up from her coma she and Cat have a new fight to go through together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to read this fic. I'm glad that you were here for the ride. It was certainly an enjoyable one on my end. I hope you'll feel the same way when you read those two concluding words. ;-)
> 
> There have been questions about a sequel. At this time I am not planning one. But I do have another Red Kryptonite story in mind that I hope to write soon enough. I hope you'll give that one a shot. In the mean time I am off to finish the one shot that I've been working on for SuperCat that may span out to be as long as this story. But, we'll see.
> 
> And so, without further ado, the final chapter of Good Girl Gone Bad.

 

 

**Epilogue**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- **Eight Months Later** -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Kara…?" Carter poked his head around the door and took in the large bedroom his mother shared with Kara.

"Kara?" He called out again, always surprised that there wasn't an echo of his voice reaching his ears when the room was empty.

Carter was just about to leave the room and look for Kara elsewhere when he heard a soft groan. His ears perked up and he turned back to the room. Like a Terminator with a mission he snuck into the room as silently as he could, searching for the sound he was sure he'd just heard. Holding his breath for a moment he heard the noise again.

The closet.

Holding in a snicker, Carter made his way towards his mom and Kara's walk in closet. Opening the door Carter saw Kara sitting in the far reaches of the closet with her legs drawn up to her chest. Shaking his head, Carter made his way into the closet and took a seat next to Kara upon the floor. He waited a few moments before he put his hand on his friend's knee, offering as much comfort as he could in this moment.

Kara didn't say anything. She just kept her head ducked against her knees, but the tension in her shoulders seemed to relax as Carter rubbed her knee.

Carter knew why Kara was hiding. It was hard not to know. He might not understand a lot of displays of emotion but he knew what it meant when Kara got angry. And Kara had been _**very**_ angry.

Carter sighed, his mom had left the apartment almost an hour ago. His mom had been angry too. He thought it was strange though that neither woman was angry at each other. They were angry, but they were angry towards someone else. Carter fidgeted a little. They were mad at his father.

John Montgomery had gone and filed for full custody of Carter. He'd felt his mom's relationship with Kara was detrimental to his emotional and developmental health.

Kara had gotten very angry when he'd shown up with the papers and his lawyer.

Carter had been hiding in the hallway listening to everything that was being said. At first Kara had remained very silent. But then something happened. Carter thinks it had to do with how his mom had tried to slap his dad and he'd grabbed her wrist and squeezed really hard before pushing her away and calling her a very derogatory name.

Then…Kara had spoken. And her voice was low and gravely, almost as dangerous as she'd been the day she'd broken mom's other assistance finger.

Carter had turned his head around the corner of the wall and watched how Kara cradled Cat and made sure she was okay before she launched forward. With his father's lawyer watching Kara had practically glided across the floor and put her hand against his father's sternum and forced him back against the wall—ten feet behind him. His father had tried to push her off and stop his backward movement but he couldn't, and when his back hit the wall it was with a loud thud. He'd started cursing and threatening Kara, but try as he might he couldn't get her hand to move off of him. He pulled and pushed and his face turned red, but Kara didn't budge.

The lawyer tried to calm things down, but Kara just turned her head towards him and she practically snarled at him.

"He came into our home and he physically assaulted my girlfriend. In our home. After threatening us and using derogatory falsities. You think you can scare me with your threats of lawsuits? You think I'm afraid of you?" Kara asked the lawyer, who was practically shaking in his boots as he came to realize just how dangerous Kara could be. "You will take those papers and you will burn them, John." Kara looked away from the lawyer and faced his father then. "If you don't, I promise you, I will ensure your company receives documented proof of you breaking the morality clause regarded so highly these days." Carter couldn't see into Kara's eyes at that moment but he watched a reflection in the picture frame beside Kara and his father flash red for just a moment.

"You don't have anything on me that I don't have on you!"

"Do you, do you really think that John?" Kara leaned forward and whispered something into his father's ear that made his dad turn a sickly ashen white.

Then Kara had released his dad and he'd nearly slid to the floor. Kara watched as his dad and the lawyer picked up their things and left the apartment very quickly. Kara never said another word to them. His mom showed them to the door and then slammed it closed. When she'd turned back to Kara she'd been mad and disappointed. She'd scolded Kara for how she'd acted and how easily she lost control. His mom said things she didn't mean, throwing blame around that was directed at the air between them rather than Kara herself.

Kara had listened and stood still, very still, her hands fisted at her sides.

Then his mom had yelled at Kara for just standing there being silent. Instead of saying anything Kara had walked to the door and left, not even taking the time to close the door behind her. Carter had gasped and raced from around the corner and chased after Kara, yelling for her to wait, not to leave, but she'd been gone before he'd even made it to the open door.

"Kara!" He called out suddenly out of breath.

He'd looked at his mom and seen how shocked she was that Kara wasn't standing in front of her anymore. She also looked sad. Sadder and madder than he'd ever seen her. He didn't understand why she would yell at Kara when it wasn't Kara that she was mad at. He didn't understand why Kara would leave and not say anything. He didn't understand why his dad would want to take him away from his mom and Kara. He didn't understand a lot of things.

What he did understand was that Kara was scared. His mom had gone out looking for Kara, or really to go and see if she was with Alex, leaving him alone. But he hadn't been alone for long. He'd heard noises in his mom and Kara's room and came to investigate. That's how he found Kara sitting here in the closet all by herself.

"Mom went looking for you."

"I know." Kara never looked up.

"Where did you go?"

"Metropolis."

Carter's eyes widened, "To see Superman?"

Kara nodded before she sighed heavily and turned her head to the side so she could look at Carter.

"Did he help?"

"Kind of."

Carter nodded and looked away from Kara, slipping his hand into his own lap as he mimicked Kara's position and brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "Are you going to leave us now?"

"I don't know."

Carter winced, but was glad that Kara didn't lie and say yes or no. At least she hadn't made up her mind yet and he could help her make it up.

"I don't want to be the reason your dad takes you away from your mom. She wouldn't be able to handle losing you."

"He can't take me away from you. You're my family!" Carter insisted strongly. "He doesn't even really love me that much." Carter whispered, suddenly overcome with very strong emotion. He swallowed and looked away from Kara and blinked away tears. "Please don't leave." Carter whispered through his tears. "Please don't let him take me away."

Kara felt her heart break in her chest. She swallowed down her own tears and rested her hand lightly on Carter's knee, only dropping it more heavily onto his knee when he didn't flinch at her touch, but seemed to welcome it.

Carter didn't often initiate hugs, but he turned and threw himself into Kara's arms. He rested his head against her shoulder and listened to her heartbeat. The sound helped calm his sniffling down.

Kara didn't promise that she wouldn't let his father take him, or that she wouldn't leave. But she was here now, and she wasn't leaving yet. Carter closed his eyes and listened to Kara's heartbeat until he fell asleep leaning against her.

Kara sighed softly as she ran her fingers through Carter's hair. After what felt like a few hours Kara lifted Carter into her arms and brought him into his room. She placed him on the bed and tucked him in. She sat on the edge of the bed for a while and just watched as he slept peacefully, snuggled up in his bed, his arm already wrapped tightly around the stuffed monkey he'd had since he was a toddler.

Kara left Carter's room when she heard Cat come home. Closing the door softly behind her Kara met Cat in the living room of the large penthouse. She'd moved in with Cat and Carter almost two weeks ago. She couldn't help but think John's retaliation had to do with Kara moving in. Before it was just an affair, something that he knew about—because Cat wanted him to at least know as a courtesy—but soon, the whole world would know. They were bound to pick up on the fact that Cat's ex assistant was suddenly living in her penthouse with her. They'd been lucky thus far escaping the public's eye. It seemed, to all the world, that Kara was just having lunch with an ex employer, whom she was obviously friendly with. The story would be uncovered soon. But they would be ready for it.

They were happy. Their relationship far more fulfilling than Kara could ever imagine.

"Kara!" Cat gasped, surprised to find Kara standing in the living room facing the mantle. The mantle that held photos of Cat and Carter throughout the last twelve years, and there were photos from the last eight months with Cat and Kara together, Kara and Carter, and all three of them.

"How long have you been home?"

"I only left for about an hour." Kara answered as she picked up her favorite photo. It was one that she had taken. It was of all three of them. Kara took it as a selfie of her and Carter, not realizing that Cat would be captured in the image as well. It was taken in Cat's new office at CatCo, Carter and Kara were fooling around on the rugged floor their backs to Cat who was finishing up some work before they all had plans to go out and enjoy a show. Kara and Carter were smiling big goofy smiles and between them, seen in the background behind her desk, sat Cat staring adoringly at the two of them.

Kara traced the image before she pushed it against her chest and turned to look at Cat.

"Where did you go?"

"Metropolis."

Cat sighed, "How are Lois and Clark?"

"Good. They send their love."

Cat huffed, "I'm sure."

Kara couldn't help the small smile; Cat still couldn't drop the act when it came to Lois. Now that Kara knew Lois and Cat spoke at least once every two weeks, she found Cat's faux hatred amusing.

Still, the amusement left her system almost as quickly as it arrived. "We need to talk about tonight."

Cat's shoulders sagged as she walked over to the liquor cart still there from a dinner party with the Superamigos, Alex and Eliza Danvers and Hank Henshaw. Cat never thought she'd see the day when she hosted that band of misfits, and yet now it was going to become a monthly event, possibly even a weekly event with the Superamigos at least. Cat had promised that when Kara moved in she wouldn't keep her from having her friends over so long as it didn't disturb Carter's routines.

Carter had loved the attention he'd gotten from Alex, Eliza and Hank. He'd even beaten Winn at Settlers of Catan and had a standing rematch with Winn next week that Carter was looking forward to. Cat supposed it had helped that Kara had invited Cat and Carter to many of the 'game nights' and 'monthly dinners' she hosted for Carter to acclimate to the idea of having the dinners in their apartment.

"John and his lawyer are nothing I cannot handle, Kara. If he thinks he is going to take my son from us he is mistaken." Cat's voice was silky smooth and yet deadly.

"I'm not talking about John. He's outmatched and he knows it."

Cat poured a glass of scotch for herself and brought the crystal glass up to her lips. The taste against her tongue calmed her, centered her. "Then what is there to talk about?" Cat knew there was quite a bit to talk about. She had gone too far. She'd issued blanket blame and released her anger out on Kara, she needed to apologize and hope Kara could forgive her. They'd only just settled in together, the dinner last night a type of welcome for everyone into the 'new normal'. There was a diamond and jewled ring perfectly matched for Kara hidden in Cat's safe, that perhaps should make an appearance into the daylight or moonlight sooner rather than later. There was…

"I wanted to kill him."

Cat's thoughts halted suddenly. She put her drink down.

"I felt…my body…I felt…" Kara took a deep breath. "My eyes. I saw them flash red."

"Red?" Cat knew what that meant, but it had been months. Kara had exhibited a growth in confidence and her personality had been altered, at least partially, by the exposure to the Red K. There were just certain things that stayed with her as a result, she wasn't as easily pushed aside, she stood up for herself against her coworkers and even her boss—Cat and her knew boss—when it was warranted. Kara had also quit almost two months into their relationship. She refused to fetch Cat's coffee when she was then leaving the office to ravage Cat with pleasures she wasn't exactly sure were possible until recently. It had hurt and been an adjustment, but Kara was enjoying working behind the scenes in the news room. It was under the CatCo corporation but there were no ethical questions in play now that Cat was not Kara's boss.

The changes were small but noticeable to those who knew Kara well. Her anger was harder to control, she had to exert extra effort to control herself. She'd begun to take meditation lessons with Clark that helped him when he was plagued by bouts of anger. The anger wasn't frightening as a majority of the time it revealed itself when Kara was fighting an enemy that deserved her anger.

"Yes. Red."

"Well, perhaps it is just another new perk of your powers. I certainly was seeing red, even if my eyes cannot flash red." Cat tried to play off the signature sign of Red Kryptonite affecting her lover.

"This isn't something to joke about. I...I used my powers against him. I pushed him up against that wall and I wanted to have my hand reach in and grab his heart and yank it from his chest."

Creak…Kara frowned as she looked down at the picture frame pressed against her chest. The glass broken at the pressure she'd been exerting on it. Sighing, she pulled the frame away from her and watched the glass fragments fall to the floor.

Before Cat could even move towards Kara, Kara had run from the room gotten the broom and cleaned up the mess and thrown out the glass, streams of air blowing Cat's hair around a bit, before Kara stood where she'd been moments before holding the picture frame more reverently as she took the photo out of it.

It still gave Cat a head rush when Kara used her super speed around her.

"I wanted to kill him, too Kara." Cat walked across the room and placed her hand on Kara's shoulder. Kara, as always, seemed to sink a bit as she relaxed at Cat's touch. "It's a normal reaction. I wanted to rip him apart for even suggesting that we were unsuitable parents for Carter."

Kara's bottom lip trembled. "I would kill him, Cat. I'd kill him before he took Carter from you."

What scared Cat was that she knew Kara would kill John before she let him take Carter from her. Cat also knew, with a sinking heart, that Kara would leave her if she thought it would protect her.

"You dim witted hero…" Cat rested her head against Kara's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her Kryptonian girlfriend's waist. "It won't come to that."

"But what if it…"

"Shh…it won't. He has no chance against the two of us. Don't you know that we're unstoppable together?" Cat smiled as she kissed Kara's cheek, waiting for Kara to relax into her embrace.

It took longer than she thought it would, but finally Kara seemed to melt into her embrace and even lifted her arms to hold her closer.

"Your anger is your own Kara. It's not created by an element or controlled by one. It's a response to feeling hurt, betrayed, scared." Kara leaned her cheek against the inside of Cat's neck and shoulder. "It's a normal reaction. A human reaction." Cat felt Kara's soft smirk as it spread across her lips.

"It scares me."

"I know…" It scared Cat a little too, but she trusted Kara more than she trusted even herself. "It's a part of you now, Kara. The red kryptonite will always be a part of you now. Dormant in most cases, but still a part of you. A part of you that is just like the rest. It is something that you will control, not something that controls you. Everyone has to control their anger, my love. You just have to be a bit more rigid in that control than others. But no matter what, Kara. I trust you. Carter trusts you, and we love you."

"I love you, both too. So much." Kara whispered against the bridge of Cat's shoulder. She kissed the area before she straightened herself and leaned back from their embrace.

"I know, my darling. I know. You would never do anything to hurt us and if you ever hurt someone else, it would be to protect us. You only ever feel like the _'bad girl'_ when you feel someone has threatened us. But even then, Kara, you're _**my**_ bad girl. You fight for what's yours. Your ours. Just as we are yours." Cat swallowed back the heavier emotion that tinged her words. "But, Kara, this time…let _me_ protect our family. I promise you I will. John is my enemy to fight, and destroy. And I will destroy him before he ever threatens us again. I promise you that." Cat brushed her thumb over Kara's cheek, smiling softly at the woman. Kara kissed the inside of her palm and then her wrist, feeling far more assured with Cat's words than she probably should.

"What do we do now?" Kara asked as she shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Now, we go to bed, and tomorrow we go to the meeting with my lawyers which I've already scheduled. We'll take care of John. _Without_ needing to kill him." Cat teased.

Kara nodded, her eyes drooped to the floor as she found it hard to look at Cat. Cat firmed her touch upon Kara's cheek until Kara's blue eyes met her brown. "It will be alright…" I'm sorry I overreacted. I was scared. I didn't mean what I said before."

"I know…of course I know that."

"Still, it wasn't fair to you. I'm sorry."

Kara knew the only way for Cat to feel Kara was not insulted or hurt by her words if she accepted her apology, even if Kara felt it wasn't needed. Just as Cat understood Kara's anger, Kara understood Cat's anger and her "Apology accepted."

Cat stole a soft kiss, more of a peck than anything, from Kara before she dropped her hand into Kara's and squeezed it. "Thank you."

Kara rolled her eyes, still finding it so strange for Cat to thank her for such natural things. Taking a deep breath Kara stepped forward and dipped down low enough that she could scoop her arm around Cat's legs. She lifted her up into her arms and delighted at the squeak that always escaped Cat no matter how many times she did this. Cat encircled her arms around Kara's neck and snuggled her cheek against Kara's shoulder.

"In the morning we'll talk about your pendency for visiting that man in tights and his military cow."

"Yeah yeah yeah, she sends her love too."

Cat sighed, "You know, it was a lot more fun to insult her when you were unaware of the unexplainable and rather insane fondness we have for each other." Kara chuckled as she carried Cat into their bedroom. "I whole heartedly blame that overgrown boy scout for outing my secret."

Kara lay Cat gently upon the bed before moving to straddle her legs. "Do you really want to be talking about Lois and Clark right now?" Kara asked as she leaned back on her haunches, hands already grasping the bottom of her shirt and lifting it up and over her head.

Cat's pupils dilated as she sucked in a soft deep breath, her hands already tracing over the expanse of skin along Kara's sharply defined four pack of muscles. "Of course not. There are far better uses for my mouth at the moment. Wouldn't you agree?"

Kara's desire grew tenfold at the touch of Cat's lips. "Always."

Cat hummed softly, "Good girl…"

**THE END**


End file.
